Through Hell and High Water
by MM995
Summary: When Orochimaru revived the First and Second Hokage, he wasn't aware that the technique's original caster had made certain... countermeasures. Free to roam the world of the living once more, how will things change when Tobirama Senju is told that his last remaining descendant was none other than Naruto Uzumaki?
1. Chapter 1

**The rewrite of 'Tobirama Senju Reincarnated: Second Hokage's Heir' is finally here. The second chapter is already done too, and I'll post it a few days after this one.**

 **As mentioned in the original version, this story is heavily inspired by 'Nidaime's Descendant' by Sechrima, as well as 'Nidaime no Sairin' by Narutoenthusiast.**

 **I don't own Naruto or anything else that this story borrows from.**

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Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage and the third ninja to gain the title of God of Shinobi, could only stand frozen and watch as his two predecessors stepped out of their coffins. His teachers, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, stood before him in all their undead glory, courtesy of Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu.

The only relief he had was that the third coffin, which undoubtedly held his one and only successor, Minato Namikaze, failed to rise out of the ground, and was promptly swallowed by the dimensional void that had summoned them in the first place. It changed little as before him still stood two of the greatest Senju that ever existed and the founders of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Hmmm, Hiruzen? Is that you?" asked Hashirama.

"You've gotten old, Saru," Tobirama said.

"Yes, it is I. It's been many years since both of your deaths. You've been summoned back to the world of the living through the use of the Reanimation Jutsu, thanks to a rogue student of mine Orochimaru," replied the old Hokage after managing to gain a semblance of composure.

"Yes, I just couldn't help but find the entire situation satisfyingly ironic. Seeing my former sensei getting killed by his own former senseis, after which I'll unleash them upon the village they struggled and endeavored so hard to build," said Orochimaru with a sadistic smirk.

The First Hokage put his hand on his face in exasperation, "No matter what era, there is always conflict."

"Yes. Isn't it wonderful?" Orochimaru chuckled as he pulled two kunais with a sealing tag attached to them.

The action hadn't gone unnoticed by Tobirama, analyzing them at a moment's notice and quickly discerning their purpose. Before the pale-skinned man could react, he went through several hand signs. After finishing them, the reincarnated Hokage's form glowed brightly for a second, and his sickly pale complexion gained a lot more vitality and color.

The other spectators all stared at him in confusion, before Tobirama went through a sequence of new hand signs and put his hand on his brother's forehead. A large seal formula spread out from the point of contact, which both the sannin and his former master recognized as a Contract Seal. Orochimaru could only watch in disbelief as Hashirama's soul was released, and the ashen body started falling apart, revealing a Sound genin inside it.

"How did you free yourself? It is impossible!" Orochimaru demanded, enraged.

The Second Hokage gave him an intense look. "Do you take me for an amateur, stripling? I had always considered the possibility that the Reanimation Jutsu might be used against the village, for which reason I created a countermeasure. As of now, I am no longer under your control." As soon as he was done elaborating, he made a single hand sign, instantly putting the former Leaf ninja on guard.

"Water Style: Water Shockwave"

A giant wave of water was created out of thin air, hurtling with frightening ferocity towards the sannin. Forming a hand sign of his own, he created an earthen wall to defend himself, the superior of the two elements effectively blocking the attack. Keeping the hand sign, Tobirama called out a new jutsu.

"Water Style: Severing Wave"

A highly pressurized beam of water shot out of his mouth and cut through the wall, as well as one of Orochimaru's arms. Jumping back, the snake summoner opened his maw wide and out of it came a new pair of arms, which grabbed the edges of his mouth and forced them apart even further, allowing his completely healed form to rise out of it.

He frowned at this sudden change of events, quickly coming to the realization - as much as it _burned_ him to admit it - that the invasion was over. There was no feasible way he could fight two kages of their caliber, and Tobirama alone was probably too much to handle by himself. As it was, his body was already weakening. The time for a new body would soon be at hand, and he'd never been one for unnecessary risks.

It was better that he survived and destroyed the village another day than die right now and never see his dream of mastering all jutsu come to fruition.

"Pull the barrier down! We're leaving!" Orochimaru ordered through gritted teeth.

"Right!" yelled the Sound Four simultaneously.

After the purple barrier was dispelled, the Sound ninja made a quick getaway, leaving the two Hokage on the roof to watch them retreat.

The physically older of the two approached the other, "Tobirama-sensei, I cannot thank you enough for this."

The Second Hokage just nodded. "Yes, it appears to be fortunate that he has revived me, despite the unfortunate intention behind it."

"I am sorry about that. Orochimaru used to be a student of mine until he went rogue for various experimentation on people. He apparently has a desire to learn the secrets behind all jutsu of this world, a desire that has driven him mad." Hiruzen's face turned grim.

Tobirama crossed his arms in thought. The last time he had seen his student was before he had enacted the suicidal plan to act as a decoy for the Kinkaku Force in order to allow six of his subordinates to escape, and Hiruzen had only been 22 years old when the title of Hokage had been unpremeditatedly dropped on him. Seeing him now, in what appeared to be his late sixties - and still with the Hokage title, if the robes discarded to the side of the roof were of any indication - he was curious about the state of affairs of the Hidden Leaf Village.

There was the option of remaining, at least for a short while, to assess the current condition of his village and offer his assistance, though there could be arguments about how his presence would 'tip the balance', or 'went against the laws of nature'. Bah, he was a shinobi, not a religious zealot; he colored outside the lines, and he especially didn't pay heed to any nebulous, abstract rules with no concrete foundation.

He had sworn to ensure his village's protection and prosperity, and if he did it postmortem? Well, if there was a god or a few up there, they could suck on it for all he cared. A kage's primary concern was always his or her village.

"I shall stay here to help you capture and kill him. He must be stopped, and no one can threaten the village and get away with it. The fact that he can perform my jutsu with greater success than myself is worrisome, too." Plus, the traitor had tried to use his body and power to kill one of his students. He rarely took things personally, he was too jaded a man for that, but he could make an exception for the pasty-skinned bastard.

Hiruzen smiled warmly at the prospect of his undead teacher staying for a longer amount of time. "I am grateful for your help, sensei."

Tobirama just smiled back and looked out at the village that was still in the middle of an invasion. "There will be time to reconnect later. Now, we must end the invasion. Who are we fighting against, anyway?" he asked as they both jumped from the roof.

"My ex-student's own village, the Hidden Sound, and the Hidden Sand Village. Originally, they were our allies, but Orochimaru somehow persuaded them to attack us. I assume he took advantage of their rather poor economic and military state to convince the Kazekage to renege on our alliance," the old man replied, landing a flying kick on one of the sound shinobi.

The reanimated Hokage nodded as they got to work in taking care of the invaders. He was well-aware that the Land of Wind's lack of natural resources put the Hidden Sand in a precarious position economically-wise, the very reason the First Kazekage had demanded 30% of the payment the other kage were going to give for the tailed beasts and a part of the Land of Fire's fertile land. Though he hadn't disagreed that the price had been high, he had been much more vehement against the expected threats of war.

Sudden, but expected, which spoke a lot about the ninja of their time. He remembered the headache being the first feeling he got when the first Five Kage Summit had gotten... rowdy. Not a gasp of surprise, not a shout of outrage, but an exasperation-induced headache.

Reto's high demands aside, he had empathized with the man's efforts to guarantee his village's future. He hadn't forgotten the trials he and his brother had gone through to realize their dream, nor the countless losses the entire ninja world had suffered before the wave of peace, however temporary, had swept through the continent. He had _not_ been ready for another war - or at least not a war born due to the other kages' petty reactions to the Kazekage's fairly reasonable request; a request they themselves could've empathized with.

For the sake of establishing peaceful rapports between their respective villages, concessions could have been made. _Should_ have been made. If they had, perhaps this wouldn't be happening today.

Perhaps.

For the rest of the day, they fought the invaders. Thankfully, due to his reanimated body, he had limitless stamina and chakra, even though he could use only as much chakra as he had when he was alive at any given time. The Leaf ninjas were buoyed by the arrival of not only their Third Hokage, but the Second as well. The fighting ended not long after their arrival, quickly becoming obvious that the forces of the Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand were no match for them.

As they watched their people cheer in elation, Tobirama couldn't help but ask something that'd been nagging him, "Saru, I wasn't able to sense much Senju chakra. While there are traces here and there, they are faint. Why is that so?" The conclusion was pretty obvious, but the notion was so hard to even consider, he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.

Hiruzen flinched and seemed to hesitate - that didn't bode well - before turning to him, "I'm sorry, sensei, but most of them have died fighting in the rest of the First and the entirety of the Second and Third Great Ninja War. Not to mention that, during that period, most Senju newborn were female and most of them married outside the clan. As it stands, the only person who carries the surname Senju is Tsunade, your grandniece."

Sadness and frustration welled within his zombified body. The greatest shinobi clan in the world, his family, was practically gone. Wiped off the face of the Earth by the passage of time like a stone that had borne the brunt of too many waves. It was nigh inconceivable.

On that note, that also meant something else.

"Then I have no descendant, no heir," sullenly said the normally composed man.

The Third Hokage gazed at him thoughtfully. He didn't know whether he should tell him, but looking at the man, morose as he was, he knew he couldn't keep the truth from him. He never could lie to, or omit the truth from, Tobirama-sensei, even when he wore his default expression of sternness. Besides, it had gone on long enough and this was the golden opportunity he'd been waiting for. He wasn't about to let it slip.

"Actually, there is one more. You _do_ have one descendant," the aged kage said.

Tobirama looked at him in surprise, "I do? Who is it, and how is this person related to me?"

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and he is your great-grandson. He's close to 13 years old and a genin of the village. Your daughter married Kazuya Namikaze, and they had a son who was named Minato Namikaze, who ended up being the Fourth Hokage."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow. "If that is so, how come you're still Hokage?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer to that question.

Hiruzen pursed his lips, he hated having to tell his teacher about his own grandson's death. "He died 13 years ago."

"How, if I may ask?" the Second Hokage inquired further, ignoring the small pang of grief at the news.

"On October 10th, 13 years ago, the Nine-tails attacked the village, and Minato died to protect it."

His sensei looked as if he was slapped out of the blue, barely able to form a coherent thought, "The Nine-tails escaped from its jinchuriki? Saru, how did this happen? Don't tell me it was Mito who-"

The Third Hokage shook his head, "No, it wasn't her. She had been dead for over a decade already. The name of the second jinchuriki was Kushina Uzumaki. She was Minato's wife and she had been giving birth to a child when the Nine-tails somehow escaped, though I don't know how that was possible. Minato had been with her, and he was an accomplished seal master. The best theory is that someone must have intervened and released it while the seal was weak. The theory is supported by the fact that the Nine-tails had suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke in the middle of the village."

 _A Summoning,_ thought Tobirama, which was an amazing feat in and of itself as only two people had been able to do it.

Madara Uchiha and his brother Hashirama.

However, the cursed Uchiha had died a very long time ago so it couldn't have been him. Not to mention that the only way to summon a tailed beast was to take control of it. It was doubtful that someone else had Wood style, which left only one other option: the Sharingan. This was something that Tobirama had been trying to prevent; the birth of a new Madara. A personal mission that he had assigned to himself. To realize that he had possibly failed was like a blow to the gut for him.

"Minato had used the Reaper Death Seal to imprison the Nine-tails inside a newborn baby, sacrificing his soul to the Reaper in exchange," Hiruzen stated with a tinge of sorrow, recalling the feeling of uselessness as he watched his successor and his wife die from outside the barrier.

"And this child is the one this Kushina woman had given birth to, and the child is Naruto, correct?" Tobirama said after putting the pieces together.

Hiruzen nodded and suddenly turned sad, which did not go unnoticed by him.

"What's with that face?"

His student took a deep breath before sighing in resignation, looking up at him forlornly. He hated to be the one to break this to him, "I was there when Minato died. Before passing on, his dying wish was for everybody to treat Naruto as a hero. Of course, for that to happen everybody had to be aware of the baby's newfound status."

Tobirama scowled at him, causing the old man to look like a deer in headlights. Despite the fact that he was now nearly two decades his senior, his sensei still made him feel like a greenhorn child.

"Why? If what you say is true, the Nine-tails should have inflicted significant damage to the village. Many people must have died, while others left traumatized. Why release his status as a jinchuriki after that?" Tobirama demanded. How could the fruit of the fruit of his own loins be so _stupid_? He wondered what his student's excuse was.

Hiruzen sighed and looked at him, which caused Tobirama to soften his glare when he finally noticed just how truly old and tired he was.

"Both me and Minato were just that naive, I'm afraid. As you've already guessed, his plan didn't work out as well as hoped, not by a long shot. He was hated and shunned for all of his life with very few people who actively showed care for him. I certainly couldn't force people to change their opinion," the old Hokage said.

"Noble sentiment doesn't equate positive results." The Second Hokage scoffed at such a quixotic notion. He had dealt with enough of that during his brother's reign. "That was a very foolish decision my grandson made. I have also noticed that you gave him his mother's clan name instead of his father's. Why is that?"

"Minato had made many enemies in the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Cloud during the Third Great Shinobi War, where he earned the moniker "The Yellow Flash" for refining and perfecting your Flying Raijin. We were still recovering when the Nine-tails attacked; the risk of assassins and kidnappers was too great. It's also the reason that I didn't tell Naruto himself of his father," Hiruzen stated.

Tobirama sighed and acknowledged his point, despite the pain his great-grandson must have gone through.

"With whom did he live?"

Sarutobi's sheepish visage told him all he needed to know, and Tobirama's glare was back at full force. He understood the need to hide his heritage, but _this_ was unacceptable.

"In order to keep the balance of power among and avoid favoritism, it was decided that no clan should have a jinchuriki in their family. The decision had been supported by the feudal lord himself; there was nothing I could do about it. He lived in the orphanage till he was 6. After that, I managed to get him his own apartment."

The Second Hokage was a very calm and collected individual, almost never caught off guard, but at that moment, he felt rage like rarely ever before. This wasn't why the village was built. It was built to destroy the boundaries between the clans and to be a place for children to be just that, _children._ But they willingly let a child be mistreated due to paranoid fantasies; his own great-grandson, and the son of the Fourth Hokage no less. Tobirama had little doubt that at least half of the clan heads had known that Naruto was Minato's offspring; it _was_ the Hokage who was expecting a child for over half a year.

He clenched his fist before heaving a great sigh of frustration. There was no point in getting worked up now. What was done was done and nothing could change that. However, that didn't mean that nothing could be done for the boy's future.

"I shall train the boy myself, and stay with him until I deem it appropriate to leave this world. There is no way I'm going to allow a member of my family to grow in solitude and pain if I can do something about it. His heritage _should_ be revealed to him if no one else," Tobirama declared, finality evident in his tone.

Hiruzen smiled, "I will give you the documents that state and prove your blood relation to him. While I still believe this is a very vile jutsu, sensei, I can't help but be thankful for it just this once. Naruto can at last meet an actual member of his family and finally catch a break in his life."

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Two hours later, Tobirama could be found in a hospital room, staring down at the prone form of his great-grandson as he slept. The reports said that he fought the One-tails jinchuriki, who had used a full tailed beast transformation, but Naruto had managed to summon the chief of the toads from Mount Myoboku and had been able to create over a thousand shadow clones, a jutsu of Tobirama's own making. His descendant came out of the battle victorious.

As he looked down at him, he couldn't help but notice the physical resemblances they had. The spiky hair, the same shape of the face as he had when he was his age, his nose, and other, more subtle similarities.

Yes. This boy was without a doubt his progeny, and as the Second Hokage, he swore to help him in any way he could.

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 **I hope you'll like this rewrite better than the original. Don't forget to review!**

 **Recommendations:**

 **Hoshigaki** by **writer168**

 **The Lost Namikaze** by **FaerieLight**

 **Hear the Silence** by **EmptySurface**

 **ROOT** by **Nightmare Sired Muse** (Naruto & Pokemon crossover)


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter.**

 **I've received a few reviews asking about the pairing. The only thing I can tell you is I don't know. I've been thinking of making no pairings with him whatsoever. Romance isn't my strong suit, and I'm not really sure about the Naruto/Fu pairing from TSR:SHH. I've put Sakura among the characters because she _is_ going to be a major character of this fic, and no other reason. Admittedly, I have been thinking of _maybe_ pairing her up with Naruto, but the Sakura in this story will be undergoing a strong personality change just like Naruto, so strong she might appear OOC, and the same goes for him.**

 **I fully agree that the canon versions of them would make for a very bad couple. Still, if I decide to make a pairing, I'll let you know and add it to the summary. Although, there will be _no_ Naruto and Hinata pairing, and that decision is pretty much final. Nothing against Hinata, she's a great character, but it wouldn't fit into this story.**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

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"What's the status?"

The Second Hokage and his successor, along with his other two former students and a trusted subordinate, were currently in the Hokage's office checking a status report regarding the invasion that happened two days ago. Homura and Koharu had been elated to see him after such a long time, while Danzo had remained oddly stoic but expressed pleasure at his prompt arrival.

On the other hand, Tobirama's joy had been based more on the fact that they'd survived 'til this day, since it was like they'd been separated for no more than a couple of hours from his perspective.

Still, seeing them weathered and old had really brought home the fact that it _had_ been a long time, despite having already met the much older Saru than he remembered. Koharu especially looked like the stress of their profession and advanced age had affected her, her wrinkles more pronounced and standing with a slight slouch that made a part of his undead heart ache.

Danzo... well, his phlegmatic poise, so very different from the prickly temperament he displayed when he had last seen him, spoke far more than the cane and his bandaged appearance. To be honest, the two versions of Danzo almost seemed like separate people; he barely recognized the man.

Hiruzen hummed before answering Tobirama's question, "All in all, we're quite lucky. Though nothing to scoff at, there aren't as many casualties as I previously thought, and infrastructure damage could have been much worse. Our forces _will_ be stretched thin in the foreseeable future, and it'll take a while to recover our strength."

"How bad are we talking?" Koharu asked wearily.

"Not so bad that we can't accept all mission without leaving a sizeable enough force behind to defend the village."

"That's good. With the recent invasion, the security of the village takes priority," Tobirama stated. "Regardless, we mustn't show to our clients and the other villages that our power has dwindled, so we'll still have to accept all the mission requests we are sent."

The Third Hokage agreed full-heartedly; they truly were fortunate in that regard. "Yes. We'll give some of our ninja time to recover, while the ones in better shape will handle the missions. I think it would be a good idea to give the village repairs as mission requests for genin and some chunin."

Tobirama nodded in approval, "Speaking of genin, I'd like to have Naruto's official documentation and his birth certificate. I'd also like you to tell me something about him. His dreams, skills, teammates, mission performance, etc."

Sarutobi smiled, "Well, it's best you hear about his mission performance from his sensei, but I think you'll be happy to know that your grandson strives to be the greatest Hokage in history."

Tobirama's just raised an eyebrow, "Not an unusual goal." Despite his seeming nonchalance, his student could see the happiness at the thought of his descendant becoming Hokage.

"You will be training our jinchuriki, Lord Second?" The reincarnated kage frowned at Danzo's choice of words, the old man's thoughts on his grandson being very apparent from that alone. "A wise decision. It's about time the boy received proper training and while he's still young and malleable."

"Proper training? What is that supposed to mean?" Tobirama demanded stonily.

"What it means is that one Naruto Uzumaki, whose potential should've been cultivated to the point that no one else in our village could match him, is weak. As he is now, it would take a miracle for him to reach jonin status before the age of twenty," Danzo said, his expression not giving anything away.

"And yet, he defeated Shukaku and its host. We all know the power the tailed beasts possess, Danzo, and not just anybody can take one down," Hiruzen responded, a proud smile gracing his face. Although, his friend's unhesitating criticism, even in the presence of Naruto's extremely powerful ancestor, still left him rather uneasy.

"Gaara of the Desert is young, inexperienced, and of unstable mental health, not to mention that the One-tails' strength was tied to the condition of its jinchuriki," The Shinobi of Darkness argued firmly. "The boy's own absurd levels of chakra and stamina kept him alive more than his skill and intelligence, nor could he have won without Gamabunta's aid, or that of the Nine-tails. In fact, if it weren't for the latter, Naruto Uzumaki would've been effortlessly beaten in his first match of the Chunin Exams' third round."

Internally, the Third Hokage winced at the truth in that statement. As much as he would've liked to deny it, Danzo wasn't outright wrong in what he was saying. Naruto had little in the way of refined skill, physically and mentally-wise, and Hiruzen knew from experience that determination could make up for only so much. A part of him had always feared that one day it would lead to his downfall.

One of the main reasons Kakashi Hatake had been placed as his teacher was to try and prevent that, but Naruto still wasn't growing at the rate he'd hoped for. He was afraid the Uzumaki's boundless determination would be more a curse than a blessing, that his desperate attempts at attaining a seemingly unattainable dream would leave him miserable, if not drive him mad with grief.

That was the last thing any of them needed, least of all Naruto.

However, the aged kage was unpleasantly reminded that he had the worst poker face among the four elders when Tobirama's eyes narrowed while gazing in his direction. That glare made him feel like a bucketful of cold water had been spilled down his back, just as it had in his younger days. Neither did the white-haired man fail to notice that, though shifting a bit uncomfortably, his two teammates appeared to be leaning a bit more to Danzo's side, as if at least partially agreeing with him.

"I'm afraid I'm a little out of the loop here due to my, you know, 47-year absence," the Second Hokage said, crystal-clear sarcasm in his tone, as though mocking their intellectual capabilities. "Therefore, I'd appreciate if you spared me the suspense and just explained what the hell you're all talking about."

Tobirama's suspicion, coupled with a slight foreboding sensation, only increased when the four elders glanced at each other, like a bunch of brats deciding whether to let him join their clubhouse. For God's sake, they were technically his seniors; why couldn't any of them just give him a straight answer? Did they not trust him to keep his composure, no matter how grave the news?

After a little while, Hiruzen resigned himself to bringing whatever the issue was to light, "It pains me to have to tell you this, Tobirama-sensei, but for the first few years of schooling in the Academy, Naruto's education was sabotaged and meddled with."

"What?!" A rare expression of enraged dumbfoundedness crossed the undead man's face, demanding an explanation as loudly as one of Might Guy's 'youthful' wails.

"I'm afraid it gets worse," he continued with a measure of cool composure he didn't know he had, for all the sorrow he was feeling at the moment. "Unfortunately, it caused a chain reaction of events that lead to Naruto's growth being stunted, not only as a ninja but as a person."

Tobirama inhaled through his nose while crossing his arms in an attempt to remain calm, though his grip was much tighter than usual. What he was hearing was outrageous, his mind making interpretations of his student's words at a pace that was almost too fast for him to take in and each one making him angrier than the last.

Nonetheless, he stomped down on the urge to throw a childish fit. He was the clueless one here and knew better than to make accusations before they laid out all the facts to him, "Explain. Now."

"The simplest explanation, Lord Second, is that Sarutobi was too soft and too trusting," Danzo huffed. "He took the ideals of the Will of Fire and blew them out of proportion, acting on them in situations where they did more harm than good."

While the man in question glared lightly in response, Tobirama noted that he didn't refute the statement either. Odd, considering the fact he was practically smitten with the Senju philosophy.

"Enough, Danzo!" Homura interjected, tired of their squabbling. "Do not let your disagreements make this conversation any harder and lengthier than it needs to be."

A moot point in the Second Hokage's opinion. He was planning to needle them for as much information - and excuses - as they could give him. Still, he was glad that Homura did his best to keep the two on track. Even now, it looked like their rivalry hadn't abated; they were just a bit more mature about it.

Just a bit.

"I underestimated how deep the villagers' resentment of Naruto went," the current Hokage said, lighting his pipe with a low-level Fire jutsu. "The scorn from the civilians was expected, but it seems that many of our shinobi were affected almost as badly, despite the trauma of the recent war... though I suppose that a tailed beast appearing in the middle of their home-village is something else entirely, especially for the younger generations."

"Most of the Academy's staff consists of shinobi from those generations, mere teens at the time of the attack, since most of the older ones who'd held a position there were killed by the Nine-tails," Koharu added her two cents. "Some of them lost loved ones, some didn't know how to process the incredible fear they felt that day, and others went through both those experiences."

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "From everything I gathered, Naruto did study hard and pay attention at the beginning, but the faculty teachers used various ways to tarnish both his schooling and, consequently, his reputation among his peers. The investigation showed that it ranged from using genjutsu to mix up the questions on his tests, giving him harder exams on purpose, to throwing him out of class for the most trivial of reasons."

"And in all that time, it never came to your attention?" Tobirama asked, somewhat incredulous. For good reason, too; the Hidden Leaf Village was chest deep in shinobi. _Someone_ should've been able to notice or connect the dots.

"Actually, Naruto did bring it to my attention, but being a guardianless orphan, I assumed that he just had trouble learning. I helped when I could, but I was far from being available on a daily basis," his former student replied sheepishly.

"So you just assumed he lied?"

"A child telling a lie is a harmless, every-day occurrence, certainly much more acceptable than the possibility that our shinobi were so full of hatred that they'd willingly take it out on an innocent boy." Danzo's cutting remark prevented the Third Hokage from answering. "This is what I meant earlier when I said you blew the Will of Fire's ideals out of proportion, old friend. Because of that, the boy lacks proper training, a proper education, and the proper childhood you so foolishly believed was possible."

Hashirama's brother knew that Hiruzen always had the best intentions in mind, but he'd never been blind to the fact that he sometimes had his head in the clouds when it came to certain ideas and notions. He had believed it merely a phase, that the Hokage position would help him grow out of it. There definitely was a great change in him, a sort of pragmatism and grimness he used to lack, but clearly not as much as Tobirama had hoped.

"Argue later, you two. Hiruzen, please continue," Koharu said calmly but insistently. The Hokage nodded in thanks before resuming his tale.

"In any case, his sabotaged education led Naruto to believe that studying was pointless, and his lack of contact with people makes him oblivious to the many social mannerisms that we take for granted. It became even worse when he started doing pranks to get attention, even if it was of the bad sort. By the time I found out he'd been telling the truth, the damage was done, and getting him to form efficient study habits was an exercise in futility."

The old man was glad his sensei was such a composed person, his rigid posture being the only sign of his growing anger. He didn't think he could handle someone as powerful as him going on a rampage.

"The end result is that his great social shortcomings, lack of education and stunted growth make him seem like an annoying and idiotic nobody in the eyes of his peers and the ones who don't know of his burden."

Tobirama was silent for a few moments, just staring at his old subordinates with an intense gaze, before inhaling deeply. Not that his reanimated body needed oxygen, but it helped his equanimity. He was sure more bad news was on the way, and throwing a long temper tantrum was beneath him as much as it was unproductive.

"Alright, but what about his adoption? I can understand keeping the clans from doing so, but I'm sure _some_ form of arrangement could have been made," the white-haired man demanded.

A sense of awkwardness permeated the air as all four of them, for some reason, looked either embarrassed or irate. That didn't bode well.

"It's because of the Civilian Council, sir. They prevented us from making any such plans, including even apprenticeship," Homura explained, a note of frustration in his tone.

Tobirama raised a disbelieving eyebrow. He knew well about that particular council; he founded it, after all. However, it wasn't really a ruling body, but a group of people, all civilians, who held significant clout in the various business sectors of the village, from merchants to bankers. The council's main purpose was to inform the Hokage and his advisors of the Hidden Leaf's economic issues and discuss advancements, solutions, and such.

The secondary purpose - rather obvious to anyone with half a brain - was to show that the Hokage cared about the opinions of the civilian class.

So how in the world could they have had a say on Naruto's living arrangements? Or even his training?

Homura continued before he could ask, "The Nine-tails attack nearly left our village destroyed. A lot of the infrastructure was laid to waste, along with many business locations. For a short time, we were economically crippled. The only reason we avoided bankruptcy was because of the remaining families of the Civilian Council who pitched in and made the Hidden Leaf's recovery possible."

"I fail to understand what significance that has regarding Naruto," Tobirama Senju said.

"After Hiruzen revealed Naruto Uzumaki's status to the villagers, there was outrage, calling for the child's head in the belief it would also kill the Nine-tails," Koharu took over from her teammate. "Thankfully, the Civilian Council was aware of the importance of having a jinchuriki, but they threatened to leave the village if Naruto was given any form of special treatment, including adoption and apprenticeship."

"And you let them get away with it?" he growled out.

"We had no choice, sensei!" Homura rebuked firmly. "The primary and secondary sectors, the ones that were necessary to build the village back up, are mostly comprised of civilian workers and employers. The shinobi have very few experts in very few of those fields. We thought of threatening them by denying protection should they decide to leave, what with all the increased criminal activity after the war, but they could simply buy such services elsewhere. The village was in _ruins_! The fact is, we simply-"

"Needed them more than they needed you," the Second Hokage finished for him, gritting his teeth at the truth of it. He gave them a hard look, "Still, you're telling me that you, the Leaf's most experienced shinobi, couldn't outwit a bunch of civilians?"

"Tobirama-sensei," Hiruzen said with authority, causing them all to straighten up on instinct. Tobirama gave him a weird look at the tone. "I understand why you're upset, but you _will_ show respect. You might have held the position of both adviser and Hokage, but those days have passed, nor are we your subordinates anymore, however we may address you. The fact is, you weren't there to witness the aftermath of the attack, or come up with the solutions, so I will not accept any undue criticism, not even from you. Am I understood?"

The undead man stood there, baffled and mum, before realizing that his former student was right. He was letting his emotions cloud his judgment and disrespecting the Hokage and his advisors, whatever else they may have been to him in the past. It was difficult to reconcile with that fact; from his point of view, it wasn't even half a week ago that they'd been his students.

But it still didn't make his behavior any more or less than that of a spoiled brat, certainly not of the grown man he actually was.

Nor of the Hokage he used to be.

Sighing, he inclined his head.

"You're right. I apologize for any disrespect I've given you. I'll try to control myself better from now on." It felt weird and uncomfortable saying to those whom he used to lecture about proper decorum, but Tobirama knew it was the right thing to do.

He had set the standards for them; it was only fair he abided by them too.

"We understand, sensei," Koharu assured him, her voice taking on a gentler quality. "We know it must be hard for you to hear all this, but with you here now, we can begin rectifying our failures. Your presence and relation to the boy will grant us some much-needed leeway, loath as I am to admit that it's needed in the first place."

"If I recall correctly, Kakashi Hatake is his squad leader," Homura said. "We should inform him of the arrangement as soon as the meeting is over."

"Actually," Hiruzen cut in suddenly, causing the others' gazes to fall on him. "Jiraiya informed me that he's taken to training him since last month. It explains how Naruto summoned Gamabunta and harnessed the fox's strength."

Tobirama remembered him. Sarutobi had introduced the man as one of his ex-students, and a former teammate of Orochimaru's. A summoner of the Mt. Myoboku toads and the village's spymaster, though the Toad Sage's sense of formality left something to be desired. Nevertheless, the fact his mere presence made that gut feeling - the one that all experienced shinobi learned to trust - practically scream "danger", assured Tobirama of his skill.

"Sensei, you won't mind sharing, will you?" his strongest former disciple asked, but with a confidence and finality that almost made it seem like an order.

"As you were trained by both Hashirama and myself, the results speaking for themselves, I suppose I won't mind sharing again. Besides, Jiraiya might have skills that he could teach Naruto that I can't."

"Excellent." Hiruzen smiled, pleased.

"Still," Homura promptly said. "What is to be done about Team 7, not to mention Kakashi's two other students: Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, I believe."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow, honestly surprised at him knowing the identity of Naruto's teammates.

... Actually, no. He really shouldn't have been. This was the team led by one of their strongest jonin, infamous for failing graduates one after another. Sasuke was the last of his clan and the most valuable genin of the Hidden Leaf along with his aforementioned teammate, and Sakura had probably fallen onto his radar simply due to association.

"Well, since all three of them failed to be promoted, according to the rules, the team should remain as it is," Hiruzen suggested, though that'd leave the obvious problem of Naruto not only having too many teachers but the appearance of being heavily favored, especially since all his mentors would be famous and extremely powerful shinobi.

"This isn't the sort of situation we're usually faced with, so I don't think we should rely on common practice," Koharu advised. "Perhaps Kakashi ought to focus on Sasuke alone. From everything I've seen, comparing him from before the exams to the one after his solo training with Kakashi is like trying to compare your average jonin to a kage."

"And leave this Sakura Haruno unattended?" Tobirama interjected. While he's had to make more than his fair share of 'unfair' decisions with cold efficiency, leaving a young genin without a sensei when arrangements could be made didn't sit well with him. "If Naruto and Sasuke are to receive private tutoring, I believe it would be well within our power to grant this girl a teacher of her own. As was mentioned earlier, we have ninja to spare in spite of the invasion."

Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe, looking almost bored. "If we're all in agreement with this, then I suggest we let Kakashi choose the most suitable candidate. He knows her skills better than anyone, so there isn't anyone better qualified to do the picking."

Danzo inclined his head, concurring with the decision, "Yes, though Naruto and Sasuke _should_ take priority. Those two have the potential to shape the future of the Hidden Leaf Village. However," The old man narrowed his lone eye. "Orochimaru's meddling is concerning. He obviously wants the Sharingan and is goading young Sasuke with the promise of power. What truly worries me is that the boy's desire for revenge is just the stepping stone he needs."

An Uchiha that wanted revenge? How original. Tobirama's mind immediately flashed to Madara, a swell of bitterness and exasperation rising along with it, but he pushed those feelings down. He knew better than to automatically associate the long-dead traitor with a twelve-year-old boy still loyal to his village. Although, that nonetheless begged the question of...

"On whom does Sasuke Uchiha seek vengeance, and why?" he asked just as the thought finished.

The mood in the office suddenly darkened, causing Tobirama to lift a curious eyebrow. The usually-prepared man also felt a twinge of disbelief at the notion that there was _even more_ bad news. He had thought the Uchiha had merely faced the exact same fate as his own clan after failing to sense any Uchiha chakra except for a single source - doubtful as it was with their clan pride and all - but it seemed like Lady Luck was still giving him the cold shoulder.

Hiruzen finally spoke after exhaling a small smoke cloud, "The Uchiha clan was almost completely wiped out in the course of a single night by one of their own, a ninja by the name of Itachi Uchiha. The man is labeled a traitor and an S-Rank criminal... or, at least, that's the official story we fed to the public. The reality of it, however, is much different."

"Different how?" the undead man crossed his arms.

"Madara's ability to control the Nine-tails is by no means a secret, and with the beast appearing in the middle of the Leaf in a cloud of smoke, it narrowed down the options of who to blame the attack on. It certainly didn't body-flicker to the middle of the village," he said the last part with a chuckle. "Either way, with several testimonies of seeing the Sharingan in its eyes, the clan fell under heavy suspicion, and the shinobi populace began ostracizing them. It snowballed from there, and not long after the Uchiha began plotting a coup d'etat to overthrow us."

A scowl graced Tobirama's face at the revelation. He didn't need to hear the rest, he could do the math well enough himself; the Uchiha clan's eradication had in actuality been an operation sanctioned by the four living people present in the room.

He would've done no different. Frankly, he wasn't at all surprised that the Uchiha had decided to plan an insurrection. He'd been fairly sure back when he was still among the living that such a day would come. They had just been too proud, too narrow-minded, and too... dark to integrate themselves into the village beyond just the physical sense. The Will of Fire, the Senju ideal that had truly been responsible for the Hidden Leaf's creation would've never been fully accepted by them, except for a select few.

In his mind, they had always been the number one threat to his home. Their isolation from the rest of the Leaf would've come with or without him establishing the Police Force, which had forced them to be a neutral party when it came to the village's political affairs. After all, an inside enemy was far more dangerous than any external threat, especially in the ninja world.

Hashirama had been too soft and naive to see this, uselessly trying to persuade him to play nice with the - as he was just proven correct - treacherous clan. He'd done the best he could, of course, giving them a job where their unstable emotions would be kept in check, while simultaneously putting a limiter on their strength by keeping them in the village and away from combat-related situations.

And it had worked.

Nonetheless, he couldn't help but admire one Itachi Uchiha as Hiruzen continued narrating the events from 5 years ago. The willpower and fortitude it'd taken to kill off his own clansmen, his parents included, and then deliberately cause his beloved baby brother to hate his guts must've been beyond measure, all for the sake of the village.

He might've very well been the truest Leaf ninja ever, and from the clan Tobirama had least expected. Regardless of his personal opinions, he always gave credit where credit was due.

He sighed while pinching his nose, feeling like his very soul was tired, which wasn't far from the truth. "I think we should wrap this up for now. I want to have a chat with Naruto's sensei, preferably before he wakes up. The doctors told me that they'll be bringing him out of the medically-induced coma this afternoon."

"Actually, there _is_ one more matter that needs to be discussed, and your input would be appreciated, Tobirama-sensei," Koharu said before turning to stare at the monkey summoner. "Hiruzen, you are strong and wise but also old; too old to be leading this village. We need a new Hokage."

If the old man in question was offended, he hid it well beneath the appearance of contemplation. He answered a minute later, "I believe you are right. I am hardly fit to lead anymore."

Tobirama was inclined to disagree. "I beg to differ. For the most part, the Hokage position is a mental exercise. Therefore, your advanced age and experience are a boon, not a shortcoming."

In his opinion, the most vital traits of a leader were judicious decision-making, charisma, and emotional control. Power alone didn't grant one the ability to wisely decide what ninja to send to get the best results from a mission, or how to effectively negotiate with other politicians and fellow leaders to promote good relations or make lucrative business deals.

Still, people wanted a powerful leader that made them feel safe and comfortable. In the ninja world, the most powerful of them were usually those who had honed their skills, physical or otherwise, through countless battles, and pure muscle without any brains would get a shinobi killed sooner rather than later. Which was why the judgment of the strongest shinobi was normally held in high regard by their comrades, which further made them good kage candidates.

"True," Homura admitted. "But better we have a wise and strong Hokage who physically exhibits those traits. Or, at least, doesn't give the impression that their power is waning. We were just invaded and came out victorious with barely more than a scratch due to nothing less than a stroke of pure luck." He settled his gaze on Tobirama as he said the last part. "Our people need the reassurance, and, frankly, so do we, for both our present _and_ our future."

"Which is why we think Jiraiya would be the best option," Koharu finished.

In spite of the serious topic, Hiruzen chuckled, drawing the attention of the other occupants. He gave them a somewhat sheepish but amused smile, "I apologize, but you're asking for the impossible. Jiraiya will not give up his 'freedom' that easily; you'll sooner convince Kakashi to give up his Make Out collection than convince Jiraiya to sit still in one place for the rest of his life. More importantly, the Hidden Leaf Village needs his spy network, now more than ever in the upcoming times of tribulation I feel she'll be facing."

"He's right, you know," a new voice piped up, causing all of them except for the Hokage to stiffen and direct their attention to the source. The man in question stood there, crouched on the window sill and smirking at them like he had just won the lottery. "Besides, if all of you are so set on a sannin, there is one other."

Tobirama hadn't even sensed him, a highly impressive feat in and of itself. As if feeling his gaze, the Toad Sage turned towards him and kept on smirking in an infuriating manner. Probably on purpose too, from what the reanimated kage had gleaned about him.

"Spymaster's trade secret, m'lord. You know how it is," he said smugly to the renowned sensor.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed slightly, eventually deciding to be the bigger man by answering with a lighthearted scoff. It was certainly a blow to his pride, however small, but it proved Jiraiya's proficiency at what he did.

The corners of Hiruzen's lips tilted upwards at the exchange, while the rest of the elders had tense expressions on their faces. When the sannin noticed, he grinned slightly at them, "C'mon, guys! Why the long faces?"

"You said that another sannin could take the mantle of Hokage. While there is little doubt regarding her skills, it hardly even matters. She hasn't been seen for over a decade," Danzo responded.

"She?" Tobirama asked.

"Your grandniece Tsunade," Koharu revealed to him.

The man in armor perked up at that, glad to hear of another familiar name, though it was quickly replaced by confusion. Hadn't been seen for over a decade? The way Danzo had phrased it strongly implied that she hadn't gone rogue, nor that she was in hiding. It sounded more like she'd left with their permission but hadn't kept in touch.

But why would she leave the village for such a long time, all the while refusing any contact with it? It inspired no confidence whatsoever, and if the bad news kept piling up, Tobirama didn't know how long it would be before his mind broke apart at the seams, followed by his ash-and-dust body.

"I'm sure I can smoke her out, one way or another. I'm the last person you'd want wearing the hat and actin' all high and mighty. But Tsunade..." Jiraiya paused a moment for effect. "She's got the brains for it, more than a loafer like me."

The three elders looked ready to protest, and Tobirama was a bit perplexed at the hint of disdain on Danzo's and Koharu's faces, but all of them stopped and looked to him for some reason. They almost seemed uncomfortable, which he couldn't figure out why, before shifting their looks to Saru.

Unfazed by the attention, the Hokage locked his hands in front of his mouth in silent thought, his eyes closed. After a few short moments, they opened and had a decisive gleam to them, "Very well. Jiraiya, I'm tasking you with finding and bringing her back. You are to relay this message: The honeymoon is over. She'll know what I mean."

The spymaster nodded before addressing the Senju in the room, "Since we'll be sharing responsibilities for Naruto's training - and yeah, I heard everything - I guess you'll be coming, too. I want the kid to tag along for this ride."

"Alright, but I'd like us to go ten days from now." At their confused looks, he explained, "I'll need the time to assess Naruto's skills, get a head start on his training, and sketch out a regimen based on the results. I'd also like the time to get to know him before embarking on an actual mission with the boy."

Jiraiya's expression softened as he nodded in agreement, "Fair enough. With Sarutobi-sensei still with us, there isn't any real need to rush anyway. You should also know that Kakashi was Minato's student, and he's aware of Naruto's relation to him."

Hiruzen then passed his former teacher a folder. When he opened it, he recognized it as a personnel file, which depicted a young man with white, spiky hair not unlike his own, and a mask that covered over half his face. Graduated at the age of 5, promoted to chunin at the age of 6, became a jonin at 13; Kakashi was obviously a natural prodigy considering the rate at which he had climbed the hierarchical ladder.

The next part surprised him enough that he froze for a few seconds. Put in charge of a chunin team in order to complete a vital assignment in the Third Shinobi World War, during which one of his teammates had been kidnapped. Kakashi and the remaining chunin under him, one Obito Uchiha, had decided to undertake a rescue operation.

It resulted in the loss of his left eye that was later replaced with the Sharingan of his dying teammate, given willingly. The timely arrival of Minato Namikaze prevented any more deaths on the Hidden Leaf's part.

Ever since then, Kakashi's usage of the Sharingan had led to him acquiring the monikers "Copy Ninja" and "Kakashi of the Sharingan". Besides that, his other most notable skill was his mastery of Lightning Style, as well as his ninjutsu expertise in general, no doubt bolstered by the Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai.

Seeing the man's address written among his personal details, Tobirama began molding his chakra to body flicker out of the office. However, Jiraiya spoke once more just as he did, "Oh, you should probably work a lot on Naruto's chakra control. He's gonna need it for a special jutsu I want to teach him."

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was a man of many regrets, who lost many people important to him during his short life, even for shinobi standards. He'd fallen into depression more times than he could count. After acknowledging that point, with no little help from the few of his remaining friends deciding to knock some sense into him, he began finding ways to cope with it all, and what better way than hobbies.

Like reading adult literature in public.

The man was doing just that in the late morning as he walked back home after helping with the reconstruction. Luckily, most of the damage would be repaired within several days, maybe little over a week. That's how lucky they were, taking into account the fact they had been invaded by two different forces, one being another hidden village and the other led by one of the Legendary Sannin.

Kakashi wasn't as surprised as some of the others, though, as he had not only heard of the miracle but actually witnessed it as soon as the barrier encasing the Hokage and Orochimaru had gone down. He was embarrassed to admit that he'd stood gaping like a fish for almost a half a minute after seeing his Lord Hokage jump down and join the fray, assisted by the fucking _Second Hokage._

Hell, _Guy_ had gotten his bearings back sooner than him, even though it was to immediately wail about their youthful good fortune and some other crap the Copy Ninja had already forgotten by this point.

Well, as he'd learned by now, life was full of disappointments. Granted, the arrival of the reanimated Senju could hardly be classified as a letdown.

Reaching his front door and without looking, he put the key in the lock on his first try, still engrossed in the literary work of art. Turning it towards the left, he unlocked the door and entered his humble, somewhat spartan abode.

Just as was about to turn on the lights, he couldn't help but feel that something was... _off._ He lowered his book while discretely going for a kunai. He promptly stopped, taken aback by the scene. Sitting on one of his chairs was a man in blue armor with a white fur collar over a black full-body suit. Of course, he recognized him immediately.

While he knew he should've done something respectful like giving a formal bow, he was so floored he inadvertently did things the usual Kakashi way. Raising his unoccupied hand, he waved in greeting.

"Yo."

Tobirama Senju's eyebrows went up slightly at the masked ninja's odd attitude. The Hatake wondered if he just phenomenally screwed up any chances of being in the man's good graces. Relief swept through him as he saw his lips twitching upwards in amusement. "Kakashi Hatake, I presume?"

The jonin instantly turned serious, closing his book and putting it on the shelf next to the door. "Yes, sir."

"I came here to talk to you about one of your students: Naruto Uzumaki."

Kakashi's uncovered eye widened in bewilderment. He wondered how his cute, little, knucklehead student might have drawn the legendary man's attention.

"Oh? What about him?"

"His skills mostly, as well as his mission performance."

"May I ask why?" the masked ninja inquired.

"I want to train him," Tobirama replied.

Though Kakashi had guesses when the undead Hokage had said he wanted to know about Naruto's skill and mission performance, that was still the last thing he had expected. He decided to voice his confusion, "Is there a particular reason why you are interested, Lord Second?"

"Yes, though it will be kept a secret at the moment. It was decided between me and Hiruzen that it'll be kept away from the public's ears for the moment, with only a select few allowed to know. Since you're already aware that Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son, you are among those selected." Tobirama paused for a moment. "Naruto Uzumaki is my great-grandson."

If he was shocked before, now he was frozen in his spot without finding the ability to move of any of his muscles, almost as if the whole world had gone still. After half a minute of staring all wide-eyed, he finally regained enough composure to say a single word.

"Oh."

Tobirama just looked at him in a way that made Kakashi think he was making fun of him. Rude much, not that he was dumb enough to actually say it to the freakin' Second Hokage.

Putting his chin in his right hand, he thought of the best way to phrase his assessment of Minato's son. After all, Naruto's mannerisms and attitude were far from exemplary, and, as stupid and nonsensical as it sounded, he didn't want to hurt the Second Hokage's feelings. Neither did he want to make his student seem like a hopeless case, which he definitely _wasn't_ , his most recent victories being proof enough.

"Well, I can safely say that Naruto has more potential than he has talent," Kakashi said carefully. "Still, it's hard to evaluate his natural aptitude for the ninja arts considering his sabotaged education. Lord Hokage informed of it after I was assigned to Team 7."

Tobirama grimaced, anger and bitterness overtaking his features for a second. "Yes, Saru has informed me of the circumstances of Naruto's childhood."

"With such a shoddy foundation, there were a lot of things I had to teach him that he should've known by the time he graduated. The most obvious was his overall lack of finesse in virtually all of his skills. Oddly enough, despite his big mouth, the only thing he excelled at was subterfuge and traps. Nonetheless, he was physically among the better ones in his class."

"I imagine so. The Uzumakis' powerful life force granted them many advantages; sturdier bodies was just one of those," the undead kage elaborated.

"It's more than just strength and stamina. As an academy student, he could lead chunin on a chase across the village after playing one of his pranks. He got away with it almost half the time." Tobirama actually chuckled at that piece of information. Hiruzen hadn't told him about _this._ "So, he's got speed and agility too, but the problem is he lacks the know-how and patience to make it efficient in direct combat."

"Basically, he has power but little control," Tobirama concluded, feeling a tinge of relief. He could work with that.

"Something like that. Admittedly, he's gotten a lot better since then, so it isn't as much of a problem anymore. Still, his fundamentals need work, especially his chakra control. If he can master that, with his energy reserves he'd be a ninjutsu powerhouse," the jonin finished.

Tobirama nodded, "As is the most common case with Senju and Uzumaki."

"Yeah, but most ninjutsu specialists are mid to long-range fighters. From training and observing Naruto, it was easy to see that he was a short-range fighter by nature," Kakashi commented. "Not surprising, really. Both his parents were best at short-range too."

"So taijutsu is something to pay attention to," Tobirama deduced, Kakashi inclining his head in agreement. "His physical skills would compliment it well. Even so, ninjutsu can be used at all ranges, and even if he is at his best in close quarters, it doesn't mean he can't be trained to fight efficiently at all distances."

Kakashi nodded. He himself was an example; he might've been a mid to long-range combatant in most cases, but that didn't mean his taijutsu and melee combat skills were to be taken lightly. He could cross blades and trade blows with the best of 'em.

That reminded him...

"I believe his taijutsu lessons were sabotaged even after Iruka Umino was assigned to their class. The one in charge of hand-to-hand combat training was Mizuki, who _was_ biased against him," the Copy Ninja revealed. "When Naruto had failed the graduation exam several months ago, Mizuki told him he could pass if he stole the Forbidden Scroll and learned a jutsu from it. Naruto was desperate, not to mention taught to trust his teachers, even if he doesn't always respect them."

Tobirama grunted in understanding. "And I assume that the technique he learned was my Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Sort of. It was actually the A-ranked version of it. It took him less than an hour."

Tobirama smirked in pride. If nothing else, that right there was proof of the latent talent his great-grandson had.

"I've managed to work out a fair amount of kinks in his taijutsu, plus physical training. I've also taught him the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu and the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu, in addition to some tactics and misdirection, to which he took like a fish to water," Kakashi continued with the evaluation. "Still, it's during his spars that I saw his aptitude for short-range combat.

"Initially, he's average at best. But after a little while, as his body gets warmed up and instincts and reflexes take over, there's this... shift that takes place. He gets more graceful, performs feats of speed and coordination that he usually isn't capable of, and doesn't get hit as much. I'd go as far as to say that his instincts for close range combat are even better than his father's."

The former Hokage rolled that thought around in his head for a short while, eventually nodding in satisfaction. "Any more advice? Things I should know about?"

Kakashi silently contemplated before answering, "Naruto learns best by doing things instead of learning the theory behind it. Give him some proper guidance, let him learn through his body, and I guarantee he'll surprise you."

That sounded a lot like Hashirama, and his brother didn't know whether to be glad or dismayed that Naruto inherited from him too. In the end, though, Hashirama had (very obviously) been the stronger one between them, so he supposed he ought not to worry about it.

"What about his mission performance?" he asked.

Kakashi shifted in his spot, looking almost awkward. This was the part he'd been dreading the most.

"Well, you could say his personality and performance overlap a lot."

* * *

Naruto didn't know where he was, nor the time of day. Kinda hard to determine when his eyelids felt like they weighed twenty times their usual weight. His body was fairing better, just barely, as if every side of him was encased in a block of cement.

Thankfully, he felt the heaviness slowly leaving him. His fingers twitched first, then his brow furrowed, followed by the rest of his body getting used to the sensation of movement. He could at least tell that he was in a bed. Finally, he opened his eyes, only to immediately shut them at the assault of light. Man, he must've been out of it for a while if his eyes were so damn sensitive. He didn't even get to see where he was.

All of a sudden, memories of his last moments of consciousness invaded his mind. He remembered the Chunin Exams, the invasion, and that idiot Sasuke going after Gaara all on his own.

Gaara. With that name came the image of a red-haired kid his age, after which it twisted into a grotesque form of a monster, its shell made completely of sand. It scared him, badly. He remembered getting pummelled by it, and then himself pummelling it back with his shadow clones. He was eager, no, _desperate_ to beat it, and it had nothing to do with self-preservation.

Sand. Sand everywhere. All around him, squeezing him. Trapping someone. Someone important, a pink-haired gir-

In less than a second, his eyes were wide open in alarm, and he'd shot upwards in his bed.

"Sakura!"

A hand grabbed the boy's right shoulder, causing wild, panicked eyes to turn towards the person next to him.

"Mr. Uzumaki! Please calm down, and take deep breaths. Everything's alright."

Calm down!? How could he calm down when that monster was getting ready to squash his teammate into a bloody paste? Naruto was just about ready to voice his outrage when that same person interrupted him.

"Sakura Haruno is okay, Mr. Uzumaki. There's nothing to worry about," she insisted, his mind finally registering their gender.

Following her previous advice, he started taking deep breaths, willing himself to simmer down. Feeling composed enough to talk normal, he again glanced up at the woman, blushing promptly in embarrassment.

He spluttered clumsily for an apology, "Miss. Chiyuku! I'm really sorry! I-"

"It's quite alright, no harm done." Nemuri Chiyuku smiled gently down at him. She was his doctor whenever he was in the Hidden Leaf's hospital, being one of the few people who didn't hate him for the Nine-tail's attack. Not that he'd known that the first time the old man had assigned her to treat him for breaking his arm after trying to climb a tree.

Looking around, he noticed the perpetual whiteness attributed to the village's main medical facility. He himself was wearing the usual hospital garb.

"How do you feel, Mr. Uzumaki?" his doctor asked patiently.

Testing his extremities, he found he was way better than earlier. He grinned, thank God for accelerated healing rates. "Pretty good actually, but I'm also pretty hungry."

"Understandable. You've been unconscious for two days." The genin stared at her in surprise. She giggled lightly at his shocked expression. "You would've woken up sooner had I not put you in a coma. Your body needed to heal, and from what I know of you, you wouldn't have sat still even if Lord Hokage told you to. Now, I'll do a few short tests to take in your condition."

He followed her instructions, doing whatever she told him to and truthfully answering whenever she asked him to tell her if he felt pain or discomfort. Not ten minutes later, they were done. "So how am I doin'?"

"Very well. In fact, you can start training tomorrow."

He sighed in relief, his troubles assuaged knowing that everyone was fine and he could continue training the next day. Maybe he could get Kakashi to teach him that Chidori thing. It looked so awesome.

The boy was so deep in his thoughts, he missed Nemuri going towards the wall to his left. When he noticed her new position, he took note of a small seal formula on the wall. He stared at it in confusion before looking at the doctor for clarification.

She smiled at him, "A very, um... _special_ person wishes to see you. He left this seal on the wall and said for one of the staff to infuse a bit of chakra into it when you were up and about."

He stared at her, even more confused. A _special person_ wanted to see him. A bit of warmth filled him, but that feeling was drowned out by curiosity. Outside of his team and the old man, who the heck wanted to see _him_?

She stepped back after putting a bit of chakra into the formula, and a few short seconds later, a new person appeared out of thin air. Naruto jumped at the sudden arrival. His ninja training also kicking in, his hand reached for the pouch he normally wore on his hip, only to find it missing. He mentally slapped his forehead for forgetting he was in hospital robes.

And besides, it wasn't like Miss. Chiyuku would invite someone who wanted to hurt him.

The blond stared at the man in blue armor with white hair that reminded him of Kakashi-sensei and Pervy Sage. Maybe he was a relative of one of them. However, as he kept gazing at the male adult, he couldn't help but find him familiar for some reason.

The man turned towards the last occupant of the room and bowed his head a bit, "Thank you for contacting me. If I may, I'd like to have a moment alone with him."

"There's no need, m'lord. He's perfectly healthy, he can be discharged today. You may use this room to converse, though." With a bow of her own, which Naruto noticed was much deeper than his, she left the room. It left the two of them to gaze at one another, one emotionless and the other staring simply because he didn't know what else to do.

The white-haired adult was the one to break the silence, "Congratulations on your victory against Shukaku. I heard it was a great battle."

Naruto smiled at the praise, but still remained a little suspicious, "Thanks. Not like I had many options with, ya know, it being either myself or the village."

"A very impressive accomplishment regardless."

A blush adorned his cheeks, and he tried to steer the conversation in another direction, "Um, who are you? Have we met before? You look sorta familiar."

The man smirked, his amusement palpable. "I should think so. You do see my face on most days."

"Really?" Naruto's eyebrows went up. "I think I'd recognize you if I saw you almost every day."

He kept smirking, which started to annoy the blonde. "I never said you see _me_ almost every day. I said you see my _face_ almost every day."

The young ninja furrowed his brow in bewilderment. His face? The hell did he mean by that? The only faces he saw on an almost daily basis were the ones on the Hokage Monu-

For the second time that day, his eyes shot wide open. After taking in the man's features more closely, he jumped from his bed and went towards the window to look at the mountain behind the Hokage's office. As his eyes landed on a particular face, he recognized the identity of the man in his hospital room.

He pointed a shaking finger at him. "YOU'RE A GHOST?!"

Naruto was just about ready to shit his pants in fright, made even worse when the dead-man dropped the smirk and gave him a stony glare, looking ready to take over his soul or some shit. Oh man, this was _not_ the way he wanted to go. He'd thought he would at least live long enough to kiss a girl, hopefully Sakura, but without, of course, the backlash of being clobbered to within an inch of his life for it.

As the spirit of the Second Hokage opened its mouth, he prepared himself for the incantation that would spell his doom.

"I... am not a ghost, Naruto Uzumaki, and don't refer to me as such again." Naruto stared at the man in surprise, seeing a deadpan expression on his face instead of the earlier glare. "I am a reanimation. I was brought back with a jutsu of my own creation by Orochimaru, the rogue ninja that is responsible for the invasion two days ago."

Orochimaru; he remembered that name. Sakura had told him it was the name of that snake lady from the Hidden Grass that they'd fought, except it seemed that 'she' was actually a he. And now, that same guy was responsible for attacking the Leaf. From the sound of it, this Orochimaru had also somehow duped the Sand into joining him.

Wait a minute! If that was true, then-

"If he's the one that brought you back, how do I know you're not really on _his_ side? How do I know he ain't the one pulling your strings?" he demanded, as suspicious as he was indignant. Attacking his village was bad enough, but using one of its former leaders to do it? This guy deserved an A-grade ass-whoopin' and a one-way ticket to the afterlife, preferably the dark one with demons and fiery pits.

The smirk came back, but this one that looked almost... _proud._ "Using your brain, I see. A good question, and one with a simple answer. As I said before, Reanimation is _my_ jutsu, which means I know its workings inside and out, including how to counteract it. Orochimaru's original idea was to use not only me but also my brother, the First Hokage, to fight the current one. Fortunately, I managed to break his connection with both of our souls, after which Hiruzen and I forced him to abort the invasion."

Naruto exhaled and smiled in relief. The old man was alright, and now he knew that it was okay to trust the dead-man. After all, old-man kage had regaled him a few tales of Tobirama Senju's exploits and teachings. It was obvious just how much he respected his late sensei, and how much sadness his sacrifice had caused him.

Nevertheless, that still left the question of why the Senju wanted to see him. Maybe he recognized his awesome skills? He _did_ congratulate him for winning against Gaara.

"Why are you here?" Wincing at how rude he sounded, he quickly rephrased his question, "I mean, um, is there a reason you wanted to see me, sir?" While the blonde genin was fully aware his politesse and social graces were a work in progress, Kakashi-sensei and the old man did manage to pound _some_ semblance of them into his head.

Plus, the guy in front of him was the _friggin' Second Hokage._ The real deal. The Hidden Leaf Village's big enchilada once upon a time. He did him no justice by acting like an immature brat.

Tobirama's visage turned serious, but Naruto could swear that there was also a hint of warmth in its cool austerity.

"I'm here because you are my one and only descendant. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are my great-grandson."

* * *

 **Not bad, huh? Way better and more realistic than the original, if I do say so myself. It was a bitch to write, let me tell ya that! The conversation in the Hokage's office had taken more brainstorming than any of my previous chapters, and that's what mostly held me back from progressing with the rewrite. With the next chapters, I have a bit of a clearer picture of what I want to do, so they should come out pretty fast, though try not to get your hopes up.**

 **And as for the OC Nemuri Chiyuku, she won't really have a big influence on the story. I got her name by combining the first name of the My Hero Academia character called Midnight, a Pro-Hero whose real name is Nemuri Kayama, and the word chiyuku, which means 'healing ward'. The idea for the last name came from Sanitize, a Naruto fic by Sage Thrasher, of which I am a _huge_ fan. **

**Recommendations:**

 **Legacy Ascending** by **The E** **pic Pen**

 **The World Turns Without You** by **ensou**

 **Fade to Black** by **Iaso**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

 _"I'm here because you are my one and only descendant. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are my great-grandson."_

Naruto's mind froze when the Second Hokage uttered those words. On the inside, however, his thoughts and emotions were running around uncontrollably like headless chickens; it was hard to tell what he truly felt.

Ever since he could remember, he'd always craved for a family, had always wanted to know who his parents were. The old man told him they had died in Nine-tails attack, though the blonde did wonder if he had lied to spare him the sorrow and disappointment. He had always considered the option that his parents hadn't wanted him and had just left him on someone's doorstep.

Maybe his parents had done something awful and left him to fend for himself. It had been as good an explanation as any as to why the villagers glared at him all the time and pulled their children away when he got too close. Secretly, despite the Hokage's assurances to the contrary, it'd seemed the most likely option.

Until Mizuki-sensei had gone and let the cat out of the bag.

The revelation had scared him at first, but it had given him closure as well. 'Ignorance was bliss' his ass; knowing a horrible truth was better than being left in the dark. The old man told him that the Fourth Hokage had wanted everyone to treat him like a hero for keeping the almighty beast caged, sacrificing the life of a normal person for the safety of the village, regardless of whether he had a choice or not.

He felt somewhat honored that the Yellow Flash had chosen him, but also believed he'd just been born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Old-man Sarutobi told him differently, though, if the safety of the village was to be considered paramount, which all shinobi of the Leaf should do.

Not that it changed things much. He was still treated like shit by the majority of citizens, though the headband that represented him as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf did help a bit.

But now, right in front of him, stood a legendary ninja who claimed to be his great-grandfather. A Hokage no less. Frankly, it was too incredible for the cynical part of his mind to believe.

"Y-You're kidding, right? This just a-a practical joke," he mumbled shakily, standing up from his bed.

Tobirama crossed his arms but understood well his skepticism. Pushing a bit of chakra into a miniature storage seal on his shoulder armor, a document appeared in a poof of smoke, which he then handed to the still flabbergasted young ninja. Naruto took them, his hands shaking a bit, and slowly started reading.

After about a minute re-reading the document several times, tears started forming in his eyes. It was difficult to determine if it was out of joy, or overwhelming disbelief, or a mixture of a whole myriad of emotions, but in the piece of paper he was holding was the evidence of his relation to the Second Hokage, brought back to life by Orochimaru. A part of him didn't know whether to thank the snake-fucker or continue cursing him for attacking the Leaf.

So burdened by the onslaught, he felt the strength in his legs leave him. The blonde boy sat back down on his bed, just staring at the certificate, his mind numb to the rest of the world. Tobirama waited patiently, knowing it was best to let him gather his thoughts and answer first.

After a couple of minutes, Naruto finally spoke, "The old man... he knew all along?"

"Yes." No sense in keeping it from him; doubtless, Naruto had already figured out that the document had come from Saru, since he himself had died _long_ before his birth to have known that the Uzumaki genin was his progeny. Trying to lie to him now would only make the sense of betrayal worse.

"W-Why?" Naruto asked, shock visibly turning into anger as his face contorted into a scowl. " _Why_ would he keep this from me? I asked him about my family _so many times_ , but he always told me the same thing!"

"He lied?"

"The old man would just give me this speech about how my parents died in the Nine-tails' attack, but he never told me who they were. I _still_ don't know their names, or what they were like, or even if they were ninja at all!" he yelled. Granted, he'd assumed they had been because the Hokage had always used a tone that suggested that he'd known them well, but didn't want to tell him, who, by all rights, _should've been_ allowed to know before anyone else. "He might as well have!"

"Oh, really?" Naruto looked up at the zombified kage, wide-eyed at the unsympathetic tone. Tobirama sighed and sat down on a chair in front of him, though he kept the stern look. "Don't jump to conclusions and make the call that Hiruzen didn't have good enough reasons for the things he did."

The boy's mouth opened and closed a few times, finding it hard to formulate an argument in his incredulity. "But he-"

"Do you really think you're the first person he's withheld information from for the sake of the village's security? Do you really think my brother and I haven't done the same thing for the same reasons?"

"So, basically, you're telling me that the Hokage lies to his own citizens?" he asked, feeling umbrage at the Hokages, the people he most admired and wanted to be like, doing such a corrupt thing.

"As ninjas, the decisions we make aren't based on fairness or honor, but on circumstances. We do what is best, not what is right. Yes, I imagine Hiruzen has had to lie a few times, but that is not the same as keeping you in the dark. He didn't try to make you believe that your parents were a certain kind of people, did he?" Tobirama said.

No. No, he hadn't, but Naruto didn't, _couldn_ _'t_ see that much of a difference. He hadn't known anything, and he'd suffered for it. Bad enough the old man had kept his mouth shut like a triggered beartrap about his parents, but had also kept him from knowing that an ancestor of his was an actual _H_ _okage_ , the one thing that would've shed a ray of light and hope on his dark days from childhood.

The one thing that would've given him reassurance that his dream of becoming the Hokage wasn't a wasted effort.

He heard his great-grandfather sigh again, paying it little heed. "I see you remain unconvinced. You should talk to Saru about this if you want to know more, but I'm telling you right now, both as your family and a kage, that I agree with his decision, for both your and the village's sake."

Furrowing his brow, Naruto glanced up at him questioningly. "I... I don't get it. How could've all this been for my sake, and the heck does the village have to do with it?"

"For one, I had enemies back when I was alive, and even though none of them are likely to be in any better state than myself, their animosity could've been passed down in their families. Furthermore, if the other villages had found out about our relation, they would've targeted you to hurt the Leaf by extension. Talent for the ninja arts is in our blood, after all."

Naruto huffed in irritation and disbelief. Talent; the other villages wouldn't have had to bother. Whatever bravado he might've shown for everyone to see and hear, the blonde was fully aware he was the furthest thing from a prodigy. He was the "dead-last" and, as Sasuke liked to call him, a loser. A sudden burst of pride crept up his spine as he remembered his victories against Neji and Gaara. Even better, he beat them both on the _same day_ , one after another.

He couldn't wait to rub it in the noses of all the naysayers, especially Sasuke.

Still, that was beside the point in the current discussion. Tobirama continuing his lecture reminded him of that. "I know you must've gone through a lot of pain in your life, Naruto, but there are worse fates."

Naruto looked away from him, feeling a shiver of dread course through his body at the idea. "Alright, that sounds pretty bad, but what about my parents? Why be all hush-hush about them?"

The Second Hokage graced him with a heavy look. "That's because your parents had enemies too. Worse, enemies that are alive and well." At the boy's confused expression, he pointed at the document. "Take a look at your father's name. I've heard he's someone you admire a great deal."

Naruto stared down at the paper, his eyes trained on the spot where his father's name was located, and his body froze without warning. There, where the identity of his male parent was displayed, was a name he recognized all too well.

Minato Namikaze.

AKA the Yellow Flash of the Leaf.

AKA the Fourth Hokage.

AKA his hero.

Getting up from his bed, Naruto walked over to the window and stared up at the Hokage Monument. Now that he thought about it, it had been so obvious. Same blonde hair with uncontrollable messiness, the same blue eyes, and, most importantly, dead, like the old-man Sarutobi had said his parents were. The hero that had sacrificed his life to save his village by...

By sealing the force of nature that was the Nine-tailed Fox into _his own son._

Tobirama watched with almost nonchalant detachment as his descendant let out a roar of rage and despair and smashed a fist into the wall on the window's right, embedding it in and causing cracks to spread about half a meter from the point of impact, pieces of it closest to Naruto's fist protruding a bit. He was unperturbed by the reaction, having expected something like this to occur and even encouraged it in a way.

With the funds in the Senju account, it would be easy to pay for the damage, which was nothing compared to the damage had Naruto decided to bottle everything up. As such, he was simultaneously relieved and saddened to watch his great-grandson start to sob and fall down to his knees, his body shaking with unimaginable grief and pain.

The man got up from his seat and walked towards the crying boy, picking him up from the ground and carrying him back to the cot. He was honestly used to this, with both his brothers having openly mourned the deaths of their family members, not to mention having experienced the grief himself, though he'd been much more composed about it.

However, when Naruto latched onto him, he was reminded it was that very quality that made him far from being the most suitable person to console and comfort others. It wasn't very like him at all; Tobirama Senju was a blunt and unapologetically candid bastard, as he had often been called.

Nevertheless, he didn't want to scar the boy for life. The recent revelations and their profession would do a good enough job of that. So, he let Naruto hold onto his cuirass, while he patted the blonde's back a few times.

"Why?" he sobbed, though he'd quietened quite a bit, sniffling more than anything. "Why is all of this happening to me? Why does it feel like... like even those who are closest to me can't do anything but make my life even more miserable?"

When Naruto phrased it like that, it really _did_ seem like even his family was making his existence worse. His parents, Saru, Jiraiya, Kakashi - all of them, as family members or the closest thing to it, had betrayed him in a sense, even if it was by simply keeping away.

Tobirama couldn't make him feel better. The only thing he could do was try and make him understand. "A lot of people ask themselves that, both those who have suffered less than you, and those who have suffered more. I can't give you an answer to that. You were dealt a bad hand in life, and it must have hurt Minato like nothing else had ever hurt him before when he realized that he had to seal the Nine-tails into you."

" _Had to?_ " Naruto asked, looking like he didn't know whether to feel better or worse about that fact.

Tobirama nodded. "Tailed beasts are masses of chakra given consciousness and physical form. They can't die, and their chakra would just reform if their bodies were destroyed somehow."

The blonde genin's eyes widened in astonishment, obviously unaware of that before now.

"Minato was the Hokage; the village had to come first, and he couldn't call himself that if he was unprepared to make sacrifices he would demand of those under him," the undead kage said seriously. "Asking another to hold the Nine-tails was out of the question, especially asking parents to give away their child. And besides, not everyone can be a vessel to a creature with such formidable power. Your heritage, on the other hand, means that _you can_."

Naruto's gaze traveled downwards, resignation settling in as he came to realize that his father really had no other choice. It didn't make him feel all that much better, but it was something. Again, better a horrible truth than pain without reason.

He rubbed at his eyes and cheeks, wiping the tears away while leaning against his grandfather's chest. He might've just met the guy, and though he wasn't all that family-friendly, his presence and the very fact he was answering his questions granted Naruto a sense of peace within the maelstrom of turmoil. "Sorry, I got your armor wet, a-and I punched that hole in the wall."

"Both of those can be easily taken care of, don't worry about it. Anyway, there's another reason I came here," Tobirama said, standing up and facing his descendant. "As my heir, I'll be training you in the art of being a shinobi."

Naruto's eyes widened before grinning. To be trained by a Hokage was a once in a lifetime opportunity. "Really? What about Kakashi-sensei and my team?"

"For the time being, your team will be officially disbanded. Each of you will be trained separately by a private tutor. Jiraiya and I will focus on you, Kakashi will train Sasuke, and your other teammate will have her own mentor."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "Figures that Kakashi would train Sasuke. He _is_ his favorite, after all."

Tobirama lifted an unimpressed eyebrow. "Considering you'll be taught by a Hokage and one of the Legendary Sannin, you don't really have room to talk, Naruto." He then narrowed his eyes in a way that frightened the blonde a little. "Not to mention, such an attitude is unbecoming of a ninja. Petty emotions will only blind your judgment. Don't make the same mistake with Kakashi that you made with Saru."

"But-"

"If you're talking about the Chunin Exams, I already know about that. Think it through. He couldn't train you together since there was a chance that you would fight each other. With Sasuke having the Sharingan, Kakashi was more compatible with him than with you. Another reason is if he had to focus on the both of you, neither of you would have advanced your skills the necessary amount in one month's time," he concluded. Its seeming unfairness aside, Tobirama agreed it had been the more practical decision.

Naruto tried to find a flaw in the man's logic but only came up with one. "Yeah, but he gave me the closet pervert. That man was pathetic!"

"According to Kakashi, Mr. Ebisu gained the rank of special jonin _because_ of his teaching skills. A man with quirks and eccentricities, yes, but just as shrewd and perceptive. Appearances are of little importance in the ninja world; we must always look underneath the underneath."

Naruto tried to argue, but in the end just looked down in shame and nodded in acceptance. "Still sucks, though."

"The point I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't jump to conclusions, Naruto." The Second Hokage's tone softened as he spoke, seeing that the boy was beginning to understand and accept. "Reserve judgment, no matter WHAT you'd like to believe because you'll never be certain of anything until you get _all_ the facts. If you don't, you'll make uninformed decisions and act on impulses and conclusions that are most likely wrong."

The Uzumaki's expression turned sheepish, but with a tinge of understanding mixed in. "Basically, assumptions make an ass out of you and me."

His great-grandfather actually snorted amusedly. "As vulgar as it is appropriate, I suppose. You should know that Kakashi has far more faith in you than you might think. He might not have been able to train you as much as you would have liked, but he believes in the potential you possess."

Naruto chuckled along, feeling lighter than before, like he'd been carrying a backpack loaded with a dozen of Bushy Brow's leg-weights. Grandpa Tobirama was right; he'd misjudged Kakashi just as he'd probably misjudged a whole lot of other people, including the old man. He would talk to him later, and like his grandfather had said, he would get all the facts before coming to a conclusion.

"Now," Tobirama suddenly exclaimed, effectively getting Naruto's attention. "If we're done with all the sentimental claptrap, are you ready to begin your training?"

The blonde looked at him blankly for a few seconds before jumping out of bed, excited. "Hell _yeah_! Just let me get my clothes on." He opened the cabinet next to his bed, but instead of finding his orange jumpsuit, he found a different set. He turned towards Tobirama with a questioning look. "Where are my clothes?"

"Those _are_ your clothes." Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Tobirama cut him off. "No arguments! Your clothes were too bright and would have easily given your position away in any stealth-based situation. I chose these clothes because they are better suited for blending in."

When he had found the jumpsuit that his great-grandson usually wore, he had been flat-out horrified. How had he survived this long with that abomination on him? In the ninja world, it was practically asking for an enemy to kill you from a distance. But that was when it had hit him. The fact it stood out so painfully much was the very reason he'd been wearing it.

Tobirama figured that he wore it to help him get the attention he lacked from other people. But with the clothes he bought Naruto, he would be killing two birds with one stone. His grandson would remain alive for _at least_ a little while longer, and ditching the orange jumpsuit could partially help him get over some of his attention-seeking issues.

Of course, there was always the fact that Naruto simply liked that ghastly shade of orange, a fact the undead man wasn't yet ready to resign himself to.

"Stop procrastinating and put them on," Tobirama ordered firmly when he saw the hesitation in Naruto's eyes and movements. The genin obeyed and hurried in putting the new set of clothes on. When finished, he created a shadow clone to appraise his new look.

He wore black, ANBU-style pants with taped shins, a navy blue, skin-tight T-shirt with a short-sleeved mesh shirt underneath, black sandals and tape around his forearms with silver steel bracers over the upper part and two blue straps over the underside. He kept the same blue Hidden Leaf headband that Iruka had given him.

All in all, he looked like a real ninja.

The young shinobi grinned and turned towards his great-grandfather. "If you'd been trying to win me over with gifts, you would've been off to a _really_ great start."

Tobirama just huffed with a small smirk. "We'll see about that when we begin with your training. We've spent enough time in here as it is. Before that, I need to let the hospital staff know about the brand new hole you left in their wall."

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head bashfully in response.

* * *

Kakashi was in a bit of a bind. He had been thinking long and hard on who to assign to be Sakura's mentor. There were plenty of skilled shinobi in the Hidden Leaf, but not much, if any, that could train her well enough not to fall behind her teammates.

It was made difficult by the fact that Sakura didn't have a field in which she seemed to particularly excel. Her excellent chakra control and high intelligence obviously meant that she was best suited for genjutsu and medical jutsu, but therein lied the problem.

Apart from Kurenai, who had her own team to train, there were few in the village who specialized in genjutsu, and most of those who did tended to fall behind in other fields, since it was quite a demanding branch of ninja arts for even those who had a knack for it. And while the Medical Corps would be good for basics and a bit more, they'd demand too much of her time to focus on anything else.

And, frankly, he was sure Sakura wouldn't accept anything other than being able to stand back-to-back with her teammates as they engaged in combat.

More than that, he never agreed with the concept of sending overspecialized ninja out in the field. Too many glaring weaknesses that the enemy would be beyond eager to exploit. Besides, a ninja shouldn't slack off in other departments just because they had already found a forte, or because they were average at them. However, the recent system appeared to encourage it. Specialization was easier than becoming a jack-of-all-trades, and he guessed that the bigwigs just didn't want to waste potential in numbers.

He still didn't think it was a good reason.

Neji Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame; their exceptional talent in their respective clan's jutsus might give them an edge against their fellow genin and a few greenhorn chunin, but when the promotions started coming along and high-level enemy shinobi came-a-knockin' in the future, they would find themselves woefully lacking.

Sure, their teams could provide cover for their weaknesses - and Kakashi Hatake, of all people, was all for teamwork - but life liked to throw people, ninjas in particular, all sorts of curveballs. They wouldn't always have the luxury of facing their enemies with comrades backing them up, or even facing them with comrades whose skills were compatible with their own.

On a mission, there was always the risk of all hell breaking loose, but dealing with it and adapting was also part of their job. If and _when_ these overspecialized wells of superior talent found themselves confronting such a hell with few options available to aid them... simply put, all that talent wouldn't have been worth _shit._

Not in the long run.

Granted, he knew not everyone was a genius like himself, Itachi, or Orochimaru. Achieving outstanding skill in more than one branch wasn't an easy process, and not everyone had the potential for it. He didn't know if Sakura was one of those. Nevertheless, she was in desperate need of taijutsu and physical training, what with her lacking stamina, speed, and close-combat prowess. A weapon wouldn't be a bad idea either. Her teacher would need to be able to cover all that and more.

Thankfully, she had expressed a desire to grow stronger lately. Not directly, but he could see the how she felt inadequate recently, often followed by a determined look. But it wasn't enough. She needed someone who could instill the proper shinobi mindset into her. Dieting and taking care of one's hair weren't exactly common topics among trained kunoichi, except if the kunoichi were trying to infiltrate an enemy base or village.

He had eventually settled for one who was, perhaps, the most suitable candidate _by far_. He'd discarded them initially, however, as the likelihood of them accepting a student was almost as great as Naruto abstaining from ramen for a week. Plus, the person in question was... putting it mildly, intense. He wanted his cute, little genin well-trained, not psychologically disfigured.

Hence the bind.

However, he was pretty desperate himself. And so, steeling his resolve, he knocked on the person's door. After hearing some shuffling inside, a female voice answered, "Who is it?"

"Kakashi, your book buddy."

She opened the door and looked at him in slight surprise, though Kakashi noticed that she had one hand behind her back, probably holding a kunai. Smart, even if he had given her his personal code.

After checking if it was indeed her colleague, the kunoichi grinned. "Well, ain't this a surprise? What can little, ole Anko do for ya?"

* * *

Reaching their destination after having left the hospital and eaten a short lunch, Naruto found himself in his team's training grounds, the same one where he had taken his true genin test along with his teammates. A wave of nostalgia washed over him at the reminder, despite the embarrassing situations he'd been put in.

A cough brought him back down to Earth, his gaze turning to meet Tobirama's stern expression. He chuckled sheepishly. "Uh, sorry. Just reminiscing."

"Reminisce in your own time. Don't forget, we're here to train. During training, I will be your teacher first and foremost, not your friend or your family. So you understand?" Tobirama said in a strict tone.

The blonde felt his body involuntarily straighten, and he quickly nodded to show his acquiescence. The Second Hokage then reached into his pouch and pulled out two pieces of paper, one small and blank and the other one being bigger with various symbols and kanji written on it.

"First thing you need to understand is that hard work alone isn't enough to become a strong ninja. Performing a pointless exercise is a waste of time, no matter how much effort you put into it," he explained. "That's why teachers exist; to provide guidance and direction in the next generations' development. For today, we're going to skip physical training and focus on theory."

Naruto's brow lowered in disappointment. Theory!? He'd thought they start with the cool stuff, not some elementary crap. "Come on! Really?"

"Doctor Chiyuku advised us to avoid putting any strain on your body. I know the academic side of our profession isn't your strong suit, but there are some things you simply must know in both body and mind. For instance, chakra. What can you tell me about chakra?" Tobirama asked, his lecture-mode on.

"I know it's a combination of physical and mental energy, one from the body and the other from the mind. Mesh those two together and you get chakra," Naruto finished, a proud smirk adorning his face. "Yeah, Sakura likes to lecture me a whole lot. I guess some things just stuck, ya know."

"Correct. We can use chakra for many things we wouldn't be able to do otherwise, most commonly to perform jutsu. However, no one's chakra is exactly the same as someone else's; each person's has its own qualities. For example, in the case of Tsunade Senju of the Sannin, her chakra has had a passive but strong effect on her muscle fibers since a very young age, granting them durability and strength that is far beyond ordinary, increasing even further as she trained."

Naruto frowned as tried to make sense of his words. "So, what you're saying is... she's super strong?"

"Yes. On a smaller scale, chakra has that effect on the bones and muscles of all ninja as they grow and train, allowing them to go beyond the physical limits of the untrained civilians, and grow stronger at accelerated rates." Tobirama waited for the boy to nod before continuing, "Don't get the wrong idea, though, that we need chakra to perform these advanced feats of strength and coordination. Our muscles and bones don't suddenly lose all their hard-earned fortitude if we're drained of it. The same goes for muscle memory."

"But when I'm out of chakra, I'm so weak I can't stand," Naruto argued.

"That's because of a side-effect that we experience from chakra exhaustion, which is the loss of stamina. Little chakra means little stamina, meaning our body doesn't have the energy to utilize our muscles to perform strenuous, physical activity."

He shrugged. "True, we can further increase our strength and speed for a short time with chakra, but that takes focus and energy. Most experienced ninja only do that when they have little choice or are sure that their blows are going to land. Taijutsu is a favored art among shinobi _because_ it doesn't require chakra, and training your body is more straightforward than training your mind and concentration."

That made sense. He remembered Lee, who couldn't mold chakra to save his life. His strikes carried the power to smash boulders, and he was a _fast_ fucker. And if by some miracle he'd suddenly gained the ability to do ninjutsu and genjutsu, he'd still fail because his chakra control was even shittier than Naruto's. Bushy Brows' training consisted solely of taijutsu and intense physical workouts, as evidenced by the scarring he had seen on the guy's hands.

Lee certainly didn't have the skill to constantly focus chakra to his limbs during a fight, especially not at the speed he fought, but all his physical prowess was still there. However, it did seem that chakra had this same effect on his muscles that Grandpa Tobirama spoke of, seeing just how strong and fast his training had made him.

Tobirama held out the two pieces of paper for Naruto to take. "What do you know about elemental ninjutsu?"

The Uzumaki held both papers in his left hand while scratching his head with his free one. "Well, I've seen Sasuke use those fireballs of his and that Lightning jutsu. Zabuza had knocked us around a lot with his Water Style jutsu, and this girl from the Hidden Sand likes to use wind-like attacks."

Tobirama frowned a bit at the crude answer but still nodded. "There are five main elements that all shinobi utilize. They are Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. Each of them has an element that they are superior to and one which they are inferior to. For example, Fire is weak against Water for obvious reasons, but is strong against Wind since wind just fans the flames."

He took a kunai and started drawing on the ground. When he was done, Naruto saw that he drew the kanji for the five elements connected together with arrows that went into a clockwise circular motion. Tobirama pointed to the kanji for Fire. "As you can see, to its left is Water, that Fire is inferior to, and to its right is Wind, to which it is superior. The same goes for the other elements in the drawing," his great-grandfather elaborated as the young ninja stared at hard it in order to memorize the pattern, which took him about a minute.

"There are kekkei genkai that are produced through a combination of two of these elements. Kakashi told me that you encountered an Ice Style user on your first mission outside of the village." Naruto nodded. "Ice Style is created by merging Water and Wind chakra, which also meant that this Haku had the primary affinities for those two elements."

"Primary affinities?" the blonde asked confusedly.

"Each person has an element or elements which they are more attuned to. Most people have a single primary affinity, with one or two secondary ones. While it is less common for a person without a nature-combination kekkei genkai to have to have two main affinities, it's neither rare nor unheard of. I personally have the primary affinity for Water, and three secondary affinities for Fire, Earth, and Lightning."

"Really? Cool!" Naruto exclaimed at his ancestor's awesomeness.

"Settle down and don't interrupt." Naruto promptly shut his mouth at Tobirama's firm order. "Anyway, the pieces of paper I gave you will help us determine your affinities. This one," He tapped the blank paper, "will tell what is or are your primary affinities. And the other one is a special seal I made that bypasses your main affinity and shows your secondary ones. Just push chakra into them and it will burn if it's Fire, Water and it'll get soggy, Earth and it'll crumble, Wind and it'll slice in half, and it will wrinkle up if it's Lightning."

Naruto nodded and pushed chakra into the blank paper. They had to wait a few short seconds before it sliced in half rather violently, some pieces tearing themselves apart. Tobirama was a bit disappointed that it wasn't Water, but there was still a great chance that it would be a secondary, and the fact that Naruto had a very strong affinity for Wind wasn't anything to scoff at.

However, a moment after being cut, the paper turned so soggy the corners started tearing themselves off due to the weight of the water. Even Tobirama was wide-eyed at the display, but that expression was quickly replaced by one of barely-controlled elation.

 _Jackpot!_

Ignoring the fact he'd just sounded like his gambling addict of a brother that threatened to ruin his good mood, he felt a rare kind of joy at knowing he could finally pass down his Water Style expertise to someone, who also happened to be his family.

"Woah," Naruto breathed out, gratification mixed in with disbelief. "So I got Wind and Water, right?" He was beyond happy that he got to share the same natural affinity as his great-grandfather since, to him, it represented a new kind of connection between them.

Tobirama nodded. "Yes, and not only that, but they are both very strong. I have never seen paper cut in half that violently, and only in myself have I seen a strong enough Water affinity to make the paper tear itself at the corners."

"Really? Yeah, this is awesome!" Naruto shouted gleefully while bouncing a bit on the spot. The undead Hokage let him have this moment, though reminded himself to teach the blonde emotional control in the future.

Naruto looked at the seal after managing to get a hold of himself, feeling even more excited about finding his secondary affinity. He again pushed some chakra into the paper, which started turning brown and crumbling before catching fire a second later. Naruto almost squealed with delight while Tobirama's eyebrows almost disappeared into his headband, though he smiled nonetheless.

"Congratulations, my grandson. You have two primary affinities and two secondary ones. Very few people can boast such a feat. The only ones I know of are Hiruzen and the three Tsuchikage," he said proudly.

Naruto stared at him in surprise. "The old man's also got two and two?"

"Yes, but his primary natures are Fire and Earth, and his secondaries are Wind and Lightning. Both of you have more potential for elemental ninjutsu than I have, so we now know what field we'll focus a lot of our time and effort on. Of course, we won't neglect your other skills; that would be extremely foolish. Always relying on the same weapon will cause nothing but an early death."

Naruto nodded in understanding before turning a bit somber. "But one of my main affinities is Wind and you don't have it, not even among your secondaries. How are you gonna teach me that?"

Tobirama looked offended and crossed his arms with a huff. "I may not have the affinity for Wind, but I know a fair deal of Wind jutsu." The blonde looked up at him in bewilderment. "I am at least proficient in all five natural elements, as is Saru and so was Hashirama. A shinobi does not need to have the affinity for them to be able to perform the jutsus. The lack of it just makes it more difficult."

Naruto grinned up at him in borderline hero-worship. "All five of 'em?"

"I'm not one to lie or joke about such things, brat." Naruto pouted at the man's form of address as Tobirama smirked just a tiny bit. "Like I said, you have more potential for elemental jutsu than I had, so if I have my way, you'll be able to perform all five natures by your early twenties."

The young shinobi had stars in his eyes. At this rate and with his grandfather's teachings, not to mention that of the Pervy Sage, he was gonna be the greatest ninja of the Leaf in no time. And this man, his family, had no hesitation in subtly expressing just how much faith he had in Naruto. With unbidden tears in his eyes, he jumped forward and hugged Tobirama like a lifeline.

Tobirama's brow furrowed at the gesture. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Thank you," his great-grandson said with as much gratitude as he could muster.

His glare softened a bit before sighing and patting Naruto's head. "It's alright, now stop with the waterworks. You're getting my armor wet." Naruto reluctantly stepped back. "Now, change in chakra nature isn't easy. Mastering a single element will take time and dedication, let alone all five of them. We'll start tomorrow, and we're also going to continue what Mr. Ebisu started with helping you refine your chakra control. You've learned to walk up vertical surfaces and on water, correct?"

Naruto nodded before frowning. "Yeah, but it's not like it did any good. It took me a whole _month_ to summon a normal-sized toad, and I only got to summon the Chief Toad twice, and one of those times was with the Fox's help. If I tried to call him now, I'd probably flop like a ton of bricks."

"Teleportation is a very hard category of ninjutsu, harder than elemental ninjutsu," Tobirama consoled, knowing that better than anyone, but still pursed his lips in thought afterward. While taking that into account, the Summoning Jutsu was a C-Rank technique for a reason. Naruto easily had the chakra to summon a being much bigger than a human, and if he could walk on water, then it really shouldn't have been a problem for the blonde.

Of course, there was the possibility that Naruto simply had no talent for teleportation ninjutsu. It'd be unfortunate, but the boy had proved his potential in numerous other fields, so the possibility wasn't all that bothersome. Besides, he was disinclined to believe that, considering he had summoned Gamabunta _after_ having already fought Neji Hyuga in the exam.

A realization hit him then. "Naruto, I think I know why your chakra control isn't up to par yet." The Uzumaki perked up and looked at him expectantly. "I believe it's because of your constant use of the Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Huh?! How?" a flabbergasted Naruto asked.

"You're aware that you retain whatever information your clones have learned in their lifespan when they dispell, right?" At that, his grandson shook his head in negative, his wide-eyed expression conveying his confusion well enough. Tobirama was a bit surprised but resumed with his explanation regardless, "The amount of mental energy you possess is augmented when you receive experience, including the experience of practicing a jutsu over and over. Your continuous utilization of shadow clones and all the accumulated experience, however minimal their value might've been, has created an imbalance between the growth of your chakra capacity and chakra control."

It took a few seconds for Naruto to catch on, evidenced by the horrified visage he adopted. "B-But that's my favorite jutsu! I can't _not_ use it, ya know! Are you saying I'm gonna be stuck with cruddy control for the rest of my life?"

"I said no such thing. I merely expounded the source of your conundrum; I never said there isn't a solution," the Second Hokage huffed, making his annoyance at the boy's interruption clear. Naruto had the decency to look chastised. "There's a multitude of methods to improve your control, but we'll start with that tomorrow."

He looked west to see the Sun being slowly swallowed up by the land. "That's it for today. Go to your apartment, and pack your things."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

"Well, you're going to be living with me from now on in the Senju clan's main compound. Did you truly believe that you were going to continue living on your own now that I'm here?" Tobirama asked teasingly.

He just stood there frozen for a few moments. Just as he was about to jump for joy, his great-grandfather held him down with a hand on his head. "Just go pack your essentials and meet me in the Hokage's office in three hours," Tobirama said in a mildly exasperated tone. "I believe there is something you two need to discuss."

Naruto's grin faded as he was reminded of that fact. Yeah, they did have something to talk about.

And one way or another, he was going to get his answers.

* * *

"The fuck's wrong with you, Kakashi!?"

"C'mon, Anko!"

The purple-haired kunoichi sighed dramatically. "Here I was, havin' a nice day, when my book buddy shows up at my door and I think, "This day keeps getting better and better", honest." She scowled up at him, her glare worth a thousand kunai. "Instead, you decide to rain on my parade by dumping your _personal_ shit on my doorstep and asking me to teach _your_ student."

"... When you put it like that, it sounds pretty mean of me," Kakashi responded, sheepishly scratching the side of his face. Truthfully, it was going a bit better than expected. "But I assure you, I come with most honorable intentions."

"Your sweet-talking ways ain't gonna work on me, Cyclops. First of all, why would you even want _me_ to teach that fastidious brat of yours?" Anko asked, sarcasm and doubt present in her voice. "Pretty sure me and her aren't gonna click. Has she even gotten her hands dirty yet?"

The Hatake knew that meant if she had taken a life. No doubt she was looking for examples to make her and Sakura seem as incompatible as possible. Reluctant as she may have been to apprentice someone, he stuck by her side when Orochimaru had defected and had saved her life several times in the past. In her mind, she probably thought she owed him a few favors but was now trying to find ways to get out of this particular one.

Admittedly, Kakashi was banking on that to, if not convince her, at least get his foot in the door and allow him to get his point across. He wasn't proud of it, but he'd rather not see his student die of incompetence or waste away in the village, mired in pity and self-loathing.

Plus, this would be good for Anko too, therapeutical even.

Kakashi ran his hand through his hair. "No, she hasn't. Neither have the other two."

The kunoichi's gaping expression would've been funny any other situation. "You serious? Kakashi, what the hell are you doin' with these kids? No, wait, let me back up. Those three ain't kids anymore; they haven't been since they put on their headbands. You should know that better than most."

The man winced. That statement rang so true, but he had been tentative about sending his team on another mission outside the village after what happened in Wave, but looking back on everything, it might've been better if they'd learned how to go for the kill before the Chunin Exams. Deaths were always expected, and hesitation was one of the more common causes.

"Yeah. My bad, I guess, but I'm certain at least Sasuke is willing. Naruto too if push comes to shove." He then deliberately changed his tone to a desperate, melodramatic one he'd heard in a few cheesy chick flicks. "But with Sakura, it's been _so hard_. I've tried, and she listens, but we're getting nowhere. If something doesn't change soon, she's going to die an embarrassment to all the Leaf kunoichi out there in the field. Our enemies will laugh as she-"

"Goddammit Kakashi, will you stop talkin' like someone's grabbed you by the balls!?" she yelled at him, but there was a shake of laughter there as well. "And besides, don't try and pull a fast one on me. I know you _and_ your priorities. You would never deride your own student like that and claim indifference towards their life. So I ask again, why should I train her?"

"You don't give her enough credit, Anko. She has smarts, remarkable chakra control, and the resolve to improve. I know both of you. Trust me, there's no one better in this village to teach her," Kakashi insisted, though she just looked to the side petulantly. "But if you need more than that, then I can guarantee she's a hell of a lot better than the alternative."

The snake summoner narrowed her eyes at him. "Alternative?"

He nodded. "You're one of the most powerful shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, certainly the most powerful kunoichi. You have an array of very useful skills, but will only remain useful if they're passed down." Witnessing the horror dawn on her face, the former ANBU knew she was starting to get it. "The Hokage might have just nudged you gently in that direction 'til now, but soon enough, he's gonna slap you with an order and _make_ you take on a team."

Anko kept the shocked visage for a few moments before shaking her head and glaring stubbornly at him. "Let's say you're right. Who's to say that these other prospects ain't gonna be better than your frilly, little, pixie-dust cupcake?"

He shrugged in response. "Okay, I might have stretched that 'guarantee' thing, but I still insist you two are well-suited for each other. Tell me; would you rather take your chances, or take the word of a trusted colleague?"

She bit her lip in both thought and frustration, stuck between a rock and a hard place. There really was no guarantee that the Hokage would eventually force her to be in charge of a squad, but it was a very logical, very likely conclusion. She eventually turned her gaze upwards, pointing an angry but somewhat dulled look towards him.

"You're a manipulative sonovabitch, you know that?" she said, her voice abundant in vitriol.

Though her comment stung, he didn't show it. "Did I say anything that is untrue? Do you think I have an ulterior motive other than Sakura's growth?" Her expression softened a little, but she maintained the intense look. "More than that, Anko, I'm your friend. Do you think I'd deliberately make you this uncomfortable for my own gain?"

Her countenance softened further, becoming more resigned and even slightly shamefaced. She pinched the space between her eyes, shutting them tightly before letting out a sigh, gracing him with a deadpan expression.

" _Fine_. I'll do it." Anko then grabbed the front of his flak jacket, glowering up at him in a way that was oddly attractive more than anything. "But seeing as this is probably gonna be a long-term thing, after it's over, _you'll_ owe _me,_ book buddy."

He gave her his classic eye-smile, filled with gratitude, and was satisfied to see a small blush appear on her cheeks. "You got yourself a deal."

* * *

Naruto stared at the wooden door in front of him. He'd been doing this for the last minute already, not knowing what to expect from the upcoming conversation. For all his earlier bravado of demanding answers from the old man, he was on edge when actually about to confront him.

He knew why, though. The Hokage was not only one of the few people who'd shown unconditional care for him, but the very first, and the blonde had repaid it with his equally unconditional trust. He was afraid the old man's responses were going to lay all that to waste, and the whole idea _hurt._ He wondered if willful ignorance - cowardice was more like it, really - would be worth maintaining the relationship they had.

... No. It wasn't just cowardly, it was stupid. Naruto already knew too much. Even if he didn't outright ask for answers, the questions would still be in his head, nor would it make the need for closure go away. There wouldn't be any genuine trust there, not with him doubting the sincerity of every little thing the old man said.

Hell, now that Grandpa Tobirama had told him everything, he'd probably let the blonde know of his reasons volitionally, so not asking wouldn't do shit anyway.

Whipping his head left and right vigorously as if trying to physically shake off the hesitation, he raised a hand and knocked twice on the door of the Hokage's office. After hearing an affirmative answer from inside, he opened it and stepped into the room, where he saw his grandfather figure slightly hunched over doing paperwork. The Hokage smiled when he recognized his guest.

"Naruto, how nice of you to visit," he said, though his voice held something that made Naruto think he wasn't at all surprised. He probably knew the exact reason for his presence here.

He fidgeted for a few moments, the old man waiting patiently with that smile that effortlessly used to put him at ease, before straightening himself. "Yeah. Heard what that snake freak did during the invasion. You okay?"

A feeble attempt to hold back on the inevitable, but the Hokage indulged him. Or maybe he was dreading it too. "I'm quite alright, thank you." He then looked the Uzumaki up and down. "Didn't think I'd ever see you bereft of orange. Nice choice."

"Not really my choice, but thanks," Naruto responded. "Grandpa Tobirama sorta... _convinced_ me."

The God of Shinobi chuckled. " Yes, he's always a way with words. He might not have the same, exuberant kind of charisma his brother did, but Tobirama-sensei has an ability to make people see sense and reason in certain courses of action, sometimes even when there wasn't any. Humans are beings of reason as much as they are of emotion, and he knew how to take advantage of that."

"Sounds awesome, but," He inhaled once as he steeled his nerves, forcing himself to do what he came to do, "it's not why I'm here."

The old man nodded, a more serious expression overtaking his features. "You've come for answers if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah. I just-I gotta know-just... _why?_ " he managed to stutter out, a note of dejection in his tone.

"Why what?"

This time, a scowl contorted Naruto's visage. "Don't _fuck_ with me, old man! Not now. I wanna know why you didn't tell me about Grandpa Tobirama, or my dad. Why keep me out of the loop?" he growled.

"I imagine sensei must have explained a few reasons why," the Hokage retorted, letting the disrespectful words and tone slide. It was best the boy vented now rather than later.

Though frustrated by the answer, or lack thereof, Naruto humored him. "He did, but he ain't the one who made the decision to keep me in the dark."

"True enough." He crossed his hands in front of his face, dropping the smile altogether. "So, Naruto, why do you think I didn't tell you?"

In response, the genin threw his arms into the air indignantly. "Oh, for fuck's sake! Just once in my life, give me a straight answer!"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Hiruzen barked sharply, causing the boy in question to flinch. His spine went rigid, feeling a little scared in being at the end of the old man's glare. "Whether you agree with my decisions or not, I am your Hokage. I won't tolerate such open insolence in my office, not even from you. Am I clear?"

Naruto understood then. This wasn't old-man Sarutobi he was talking to, the genial grandfather figure who'd been a constant ray of happiness in his dark world. This was his Lord Hokage; his leader, superior, and, for all intents and purposes, his god. And he had just pissed him off. Gulping down the lump in his throat, unused to this toughened version of Hiruzen Sarutobi, he nodded.

The Hokage's expression then softened right away, adopting a small smile again, like the moment of sternness had been but a mere illusion. "Good. Keeping what I said in mind, you may relax, Naruto. Still, I want to hear your answer, and I want you to carefully consider your words. Think like a Hokage. Think of the Hidden Leaf; its security, and its future. Put yourself in my shoes at the time right after the Nine-tails attack."

Slumping his shoulders in relief, he began to ruminate on the issue.

He well understood that just being the Fourth Hokage's son alone painted a huge target on his back; his father's accomplishments during the Third Shinobi World War made sure of that. Throw the Senju heritage into the mix, and he became the prime candidate for assassination or kidnapping. If he'd been kidnapped, they'd probably have used the Fox's power against the Leaf. If a mere genin like him could somewhat do it, then a whole bunch of smarter, more experienced ninja could definitely pull it off better.

And if he'd been killed, well, then according to Grandpa Tobirama, the Village Hidden in the Leaves would've experienced a second coming of the Nine-tails.

And the likelihood of her surviving such an attack twice was close to zilch. Naruto groaned, disheartened to realize he was starting to see reason in the old man's choices.

But still...

"So, what you're saying is, you didn't trust me to keep my mouth shut, right?" he asked bitterly, clenching his fists at the Hokage's blatant lack of trust in his judgment.

He stared at the blonde boy seriously for a moment before responding. "Would you have?"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, not sure if he heard right. "What?"

"Would you have? Kept your mouth shut, I mean."

"If you'd told me to then yeah, I would've! I always listened to you!" he shouted, outraged at what the older shinobi was insinuating. He had always taken everything he'd said to him to heart.

Naruto's anger reached new heights when the Hokage smiled teasingly. "Like all the times you listened to me when I told you to stop your pranking? Or the times I told you to study harder for your tests?"

He spluttered for an answer, but only managed to turn his head to the side, unable to argue against that and feeling even more frustrated that the most he could do was look like a kid with his hands in the cookie jar. He hadn't followed through with any of those things. He'd tried but always failed in the end. Not exactly a trust builder. He huffed in frustration. "It's not fair."

"Not fair?" Hiruzen chuckled, amused by the thought. "My boy, we're shinobi; a pragmatic people first and foremost. Our success isn't based on taking unnecessary chances and risks. You'll find that fairness and honor have little meaning to us. I'd even go as far as to say they're hindrances more than anything, sad it is to admit, though."

Got that right. It _was_ sad, and Naruto didn't know how he and other Hokage could live with themselves if they had to make choices like these on a common basis. It all sounded so wrong, but his own recent conclusions spoke for themselves, finally starting to really see that the _oh so wrong_ decision to keep him uninformed had been, if not the right thing to do, what was best for the village.

But, as usual, his stubborn side wasn't quite ready to go along with that admission. "I still think I would've kept it a secret."

The Third Hokage shrugged. "Maybe you would have, but I'm sorry to say, Naruto, it wasn't a risk worth taking. Would you have found it unreasonable to withhold such sensitive information from a young, loudmouthed boy desperate for attention, information he could use to bolster his popularity among the populace?"

The Uzumaki winced. He remembered well a few occasions from his childhood when the hopelessness had reached critical levels, feeling as if the whole world was crushing him from all sides, and there'd been no one there to lend him a hand.

At those times...

Yes. It was for the best that he remained ignorant back then. It somehow made the pain worse. "So, that's it, huh? I go through that living hell, and I gotta settle for this shitty logic?"

But shitty logic was no less true than any other sort of it, an aspect of reality he was beginning to accept, however begrudgingly.

The old man's face then turned sympathetic. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Naruto. You didn't deserve it in any way, but unfortunately, bad things happen to everyone. You and I aren't exempt from it, and take it from me, Naruto, there _are_ those who've gone through worse. Kakashi, for one."

"Kakashi-sensei? Really?" He wouldn't have thought that about his lazy, slightly impish teacher. The blonde then remembered about the Memorial Stone, all the KIA ninjas who'd died in the line of duty, among whom were Kakashi's closest friends. Maybe it had something to do with that.

"It's not my story to tell. The point is, you have friends now, and family. I can' tell you to get over it because I don't think anyone really can. The best we can do is learn to live with our demons," the Hokage lectured. "Since we're on the topic of family, you'll soon get to meet another one."

He stood up straight in shock; he had _more_ family? And someone actually alive. "Who?" he asked excitedly.

"Tsunade Senju, the First Hokage's granddaughter," the old man answered. Naruto perked up at the name, recalling Tobirama mentioning her earlier today. She was one of the Legendary Sannin, a teammate of Pervy Sage. "As such, she is your second cousin once removed. You'll be going with both your current masters to track her down and convince her to take the Hokage mantle."

"You're retiring?" Naruto exclaimed, flabbergasted at the notion of anyone else wearing the Hokage hat.

Except himself, of course.

"I'm old, Naruto. This burden grows heavier as both my body and mind grow weaker. It's time for the Hidden Leaf Village to have its Fifth Hokage, it's been a long time coming as it is. This mission is of utmost importance, which is why I'll be classifying it as a B-rank assignment. It starts ten days from now, to give you a little time to train and acquaint yourself with your grandfather."

Hiruzen gave him a pointed look. "Make the best of that time, Naruto. Listen to everything Tobirama-sensei says. Alright? These days could very well determine the course of your future."

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the blonde boy straightened his spine and gave a single, firm nod. "Yes, sir."

* * *

 **For the record, not every piece of information will be like in canon. There will be changes in order to fit the plot of the story, so don't be surprised. One of those things are the stats and skills of some of the characters.**

 **For starters, Anko. She will be much stronger in this story, one of the strongest Hidden Leaf** **jonin and probably the strongest Hidden Leaf kunoichi when not counting Tsunade. The main reason for her upgrade in skill is so she could be a more efficient teacher for Sakura. Besides, with Orochimaru, of all people, having taken an interest in her, it would only make sense that she is very talented and powerful.**

 **As in the original fic, I'll be adding the stats of certain characters as the story progresses, though don't expect the stats of Konoha 12 quite yet.**

 **Anko Mitarashi**

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Taijutsu: 4 m/+

Genjutsu: 4.5 m/+

Intelligence: 3.5 +

Strength: 3

Speed: 4.5 -/m

Stamina: 4

Hand Seals: 4 -

Total: 32

 **Tobirama Senju**

Ninjutsu: 5 +

Taijutsu: 5 -

Genjutsu: 4 +

Intelligence: 5 +

Strength: 4 +

Speed: 5 +

Stamina: 5

Hand Seals: 5 -/m

Total: 38

 **Jiraiya**

Ninjutsu: 5 m/+

Taijutsu: 4.5

Genjutsu: 3 -/m

Intelligence: 5 -

Strength: 4.5 m/+

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 5 -/m

Hand Seals: 4.5

Total: 36

 **Minato Namikaze**

Ninjutsu: 5 -/m

Taijutsu: 4.5 +

Genjutsu: 3.5 m/+

Intelligence: 5 -/m

Strength: 4

Speed: 5 +

Stamina: 5 -/m

Hand Seals: 4.5 -

Total: 36.5


	4. Chapter 4

**VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE BOTTOM!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

A pouch-full of kunai?

 _Check_

Two holsters full of shuriken?

 _Check_

Wire? Flash bombs? Paper bombs?

 _Check all the way_

Seeing that her bags were filled to the brim with deadly weapons and equipment, Sakura adjusted them onto her person, a shuriken holster for each leg. Feeling uncharacteristically pumped, having finally been discharged from the hospital yesterday evening, she set course for her front door. Today was a special day, after all.

Today would be her first time doing solo training.

No team, just her. No Naruto, no Kakashi, and, yes, no Sasuke even.

Jitters went up her spine at the thought of it. She'd never done extracurricular training before, but being bedridden for over a day due to mild internal injuries, sustained after having been taken out in a fight with contemptuous ease, had given her plenty of time to think on her current situation... and her future.

It was pointless to deny anymore just how seriously she was lagging behind her teammates, the distance only growing larger with the passage of time. The invasion had hammered that painful reality home. There they were, on a hastily assigned A-rank mission to rescue Sasuke and about to battle an opponent almost as strong as Zabuza, and she went and made _herself_ in need of saving not three seconds into the fight.

She'd become nothing more than an additional obstacle for her comrades to overcome while already having the odds set against them.

If there was one thing worse than being useless, it was being worse than useless. It was a right shitty feeling, to say the least.

Had she not been so deep in her self-loathing, she imagined Kakashi's hospital visit would have been much more awkward, considering the broken vase she'd thrown across the room when her mounting frustration had reached its peak, no longer able to withhold a physical expression of her tumultuous thoughts.

Her sensei, as annoyingly perceptive as ever - bless his disentranced heart - had suggested training, lighting a spark in her. The realization had hit the female genin like a kick from Rock Lee, one so obvious she knew she would be chiding herself for it in the next several months.

If she didn't want to feel like crap about her skills, then she just needed to work her ass off on them.

Granted, for all her book smarts, Sakura wasn't at all knowledgeable about advanced training methods, and she had very limited information on jutsu she couldn't do. Kakashi would be the best source for both, but he'd been pretty busy as of late, what with the reparations and such. She didn't want to impose on his working hours, assuming she'd even be able to find her sensei.

Fortunately, her genin rank gave her a certain amount of clearance in the jutsu library. Better yet, her ten D-rank, and one A-rank mission record - two when counting Sasuke's rescue - further upgraded her into the Experienced Genin slot, allowing her access to the E, D, and a portion of the C-rank jutsu section of the library. Basic, mildly useful techniques, simple and easy on the chakra expenditure.

That would come later, though. Today was all about physical exercise and weapons practice, as the pink-haired kunoichi was in dire need of some healthy body-building. She would make her way to the library after the training session and study up on a few jutsu this evening.

No more sentimental fantasies or romantic delusions of heroism. Just remembering the times picturing herself being the archetypal damsel in distress, ready and willing to be rescued by Sasuke Uchiha clad in white armor made her cringe. How could she had ever been so monumentally stupid as to think _that_ would bring her pride and joy? Like a dream come true?

More like a nightmare come reality. She might as well go ahead and buy Naruto a bowl of ramen for every time she'd called him an idiot.

Once, about a week into her time as a genin, her silver-haired sensei had mentioned that death was a shinobi's closest and most constant companion with all the casual idleness of discussing the weather. Sakura had been a bit mortified at the time, true, but had quickly reverted back to tripping out about lovey-dovey fantasies that would, more likely than not, remain fantasies.

But now, the notion reverberated in her head every time she contemplated her ninja career. Like he'd said, her life was on the line every time they accepted a mission, regardless of rank. All it had taken for that to set in was just her team coming close to knocking on death's door half a dozen times. No muss, no fuss.

It was a world of scant morals they lived in, and the old Sakura that believed otherwise was a thing of the past, while the new one was ready to move forward. Having eaten a protein and carb-rich breakfast about an hour earlier, she was rarin' to go. Early on, Kakashi's training regimen, as well as Kakashi himself had made it quite clear that dieting was off the table; she needed the energy for training, and any excess fat she _might_ have gained by eating consistent meals would've been quickly shaved off with exercise.

Needless to say, it'd felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

She wondered if Ino had realized it by now.

A few knocks on the door brought her out of her musings, perking up when she recognized the sequence. Kakashi used a very specific one that, for security reasons, he'd taught to his genin to know when it was him on their doorstep. Putting on her sandals, she hastily made her way downstairs. Her mom beat her to the door, though, and opened it with a welcoming smile. However, while it was the sight of her sensei that greeted her first, he wasn't alone.

"Good day, Kakashi-sensei. Are you here for Sakura?" her mother asked politely.

"Yes, but I'm not the only one, Mrs. Haruno. A friend of mine would like to meet her," he said, gesturing to the woman a bit behind him, who Sakura remembered to be the second stage exam proctor.

Her dad then came to stand next to mom, his perpetual grin as big and goofy as ever. "Well, I'm glad Sakura's branching out and making more friends. As opposed to the sweetness of cherry blossoms she was named after, our little girl has been a bit sour lately!"

The 'little girl' in question blushed and pouted in embarrassment as her father laughed jovially at his poor joke. Seriously, and in front of her sensei too. Not to mention the total and dangerous-looking stranger by his side. Her mother wasn't making things any better, what with her chuckling along.

Kakashi-sensei smiled, or at least appeared to. "I'm afraid this isn't a social call, Mr. Haruno. I assure you, though, Sakura is no trouble," he answered, his tone genial but with a lilt that conveyed his seriousness.

"Oh, then I suppose I better pull out my business pants and- _hey_!" Both his sentence and his grin were cut off when the purple-haired woman stepped forward and squeezed between them. Sakura felt her gut clench a bit when she stopped in front of the genin and loomed over her with a severe expression, different and scarier than the sadistic but laid-back smirk she displayed at the exam.

Her shoulders tensed when Anko suddenly put a hand on her head and just stood there, a look of mild concentration on her face. She saw her parents ready to come to her rescue but were prevented from doing so by Kakashi, who merely shook his head. She didn't know if she ought to be reassured or cursing him as a traitor, leaving her alone with this blood-sucking monster.

The image of her slicing open Naruto's cheek and licking away a wad of his blood was still in her head, disgusting and absolutely unnerving.

After about half a minute, the exam proctor finally moved, only to start groping her right arm, lightly pressing her fingers against her muscles, moving from shoulder to forearm, then doing the same thing with her other one. She straightened out shortly after and turned to give her parents a scrutinizing once-over, almost like she was assessing their threat level or something, before looking back to her.

Anko's expression softened a mite, but it maintained its earlier gravitas, and her gaze went to Kakashi-sensei. "I'll take her."

Sakura froze on the spot. That phrase had so many meanings, she didn't know what to make of it, though her admittedly short experiences with the woman made her think of the worst.

Her parents appeared to be of the same mind. "You'll _take_ her?" her mom asked in an affronted tone, shaking the Hatake's hand off her shoulder. "Look, I don't know who you are, but you don't get to barge in our home, harass my daughter, and make demands immediately afterward. Just who the hell are you?"

That nightmare-worthy smirk graced the purple-haired kunoichi's face. "Who, me? Why I'm your little girl's new sensei."

... Huh?

The pink-haired genin switched her gaze between Anko and Kakashi, silently demanding an explanation on as to what the _fuck_ was going on, and hoping beyond hope that the two were just pulling her leg and her teacher wasn't _actually planning_ to leave her alone with this _thing_.

"Unfortunately, the brass has decided to temporarily disband Team 7 and assign a personal tutor to each of its genin. Anko Mitarashi here was eager to accept the duty of taking over Sakura's training for the foreseeable future." The somewhat trenchant glare the woman sent his way gave Sakura the impression she'd been anything but. No doubt the smart-aleck ninja had probably twisted her arm into accepting this arrangement.

Maybe they could bond over their mutual feelings of annoyance for the silver-haired man.

"Really? How come?" her dad asked curiously.

"I'm afraid I can't discuss it at length. I myself will continue Sasuke's training, while Lord Jiraiya takes over Naruto's," Kakashi responded before addressing her directly. "Now Sakura, Anko is one of the most powerful shinobi the Hidden Leaf has to offer. The fact her mission flow is about to be cut by at least half to allow her to focus on training you, her very first apprentice is a most singular honor. Work hard and don't squander this opportunity. Okay?"

She nodded with a wary glance toward the kunoichi. His laziness aside, if he felt her training _and_ wellbeing were secure in Anko's hands, then maybe she was taking her fretting a bit overboard.

It came to her suddenly, almost gasping in realization. This was exactly what she'd been looking for, what she needed to get stronger and catch up to her teammates; a sensei whose efforts would be exclusively focused on her. If Anko really was as strong as Kakashi portrayed her to be, then her advanced training conundrum had just been solved.

Regardless of the fact that her new mentor seemed to have all of Naruto's loudmouth tendencies and none of his innocence.

"If the chit-chat is over and done with, I'd like us to get a move on sometime today," Anko grunted, giving her a meaningful glance. Taking the hint, Sakura headed for the door, saying goodbye to her parents along the way, who responded in with wishes of 'Good luck!' and such.

An arm was placed around her shoulders a few moments after stepping outside, the beige sleeve and calloused but slightly dainty fingers identifying it as the exam proctor's. Kakashi-sensei stopped to her left and graced her with an eye-smile and friendly wave.

Then, she felt a pulling sensation and the world shifted before her eyes.

Nausea built up in her body, her head spinning as the colors passed by too fast for her mind to register, accompanied by a light crushing all around her form. A moment of panic rose, an instinctive and primal fear, but the unexpected phenomenon came to an abrupt end before it could completely overtake her.

Bending forward, she steadied herself by placing her hands on her knees and inhaling deep gulps of air. After the panic and nausea abated, she took a look around, the fear making a threatening comeback when she recognized the imposing wire fence, standing tall like an ominous vigil before what lay inside it.

The Forest of Death.

Gulping down her anxiety along with the bad memories, the genin stood upright. "Was that a... teleportation jutsu?"

"No. That was a pimped-out version of your regular Body Flicker," her new sensei informed her. "By connecting our chakra when I touched you, I was able to take you along for the ride."

Anko began walking, thankfully not toward the looming forest in the back. Instead, she made her way to the rocks positioned about 40-50 meters away from the fence. She took a seat on one in, what Sakura could only describe, an enticing way; leaning on her hands behind her, chest jutting out a bit, and one leg over the other. She didn't know if she did it on purpose, or if it just came naturally to her.

Either way, knowing the woman was made of sterner, less indolent stuff than Kakashi Hatake, she opted to remain on her feet with her spine straight and back rigid.

She just gave her the vibe that said that Sakura ought to avoid taking any undue risks.

The jonin raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Sit down, Private Bubblegum. We ain't training quite yet. Introductions first. I've read your academy file and played 20 questions with Kakashi, but I'd like to hear it from the horse's mouth, too."

Nodding, she lowered herself down into a seated position with her legs crossed and then looked at her mentor expectantly.

"Fine, me first. As you already know, my name is Anko Mitarashi. I like dango, red bean soup, and torturing any unlucky victims who find themselves in my unmerciful grasp." Her sensei gave her a sadistic grin, the implications more than obvious. Sakura _herself_ was now one of them. "I don't like whiny, crybaby pissants who think our ninja career is some fairytale wonderland. My current goal in life is to turn the shit-pile of pathetic that is Sakura Haruno into a real shinobi."

She cringed uncomfortably, more at the very apparent opinion Anko had of her than the language. Nonetheless, she composed herself and answered in kind. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like umeboshi and... anko dumplings." The older kunoichi laughed at that, the irony not lost on her. "I don't like... having to rely on others to save me."

Feeling a swell of determination at the reminder, and even a little vindictiveness, she gazed steadily back at Anko. "And my goal is to help you turn the shit-pile of pathetic I am right now into a shinobi strong enough to kick even your ass someday."

Though her brow raised a bit in surprise, the woman's visage was predominantly unimpressed. A slight quirk of the lips betrayed her well-hidden amusement. " Gutsy little thing, ain't ya? Makin' such lofty proclamations, and we haven't even started yet. Private Bubblegum, I oughtta give you a good spanking to teach you some respect, but I'll refrain until we start training." She then took in Sakura's entire form. "Hell, guessing by the gear you're wearing, you were about to go out and hit the training fields yourself when Lazy Bones and I came, right?"

The girl nodded, at which Anko continued, "You're not entirely hopeless then, I admit, which brings me to my next point." Her relaxed expression dropped, allowing one notably more severe, almost accusatory, to take place. She resisted the urge to gulp and kept her face effortfully blank, the tension growing more and more palpable. "Do you know just how lucky you are?"

Taken aback momentarily by the acerbic undertone in the question, the genin tried to appease her, figuring she was still miffed for being saddled with her. "Yes, Anko-sensei. I'm very grateful to you for accepting me as your apprentice."

"Good answer, but no," the jonin stated firmly, raising a hand and extending two of her fingers upwards. "You've got two things to be grateful for, each of them out of your control. They're both based on the same thing, though: your genes."

"Huh? I don't get it?" she asked, confused.

"Remember that groping session earlier? That was me examining your body and chakra. And let me tell ya, you've been blessed, brat. Physically, almost everything about you speaks 'above average', or the potential for it, even if you don't look it now." Fingers began dropping as Anko recounted her findings, "Constitution, height, chakra reserves, chakra control; you name it. Do you know what somatotypes are?"

Flabbergasted and more than a little awed by the unexpected response, she bobbed her head rather mutely. "Uh, yeah. Somatotypes are types of human physique people naturally have. They're divided into the ectomorphic, the skinny body; the mesomorphic, the toned body; and the endomorphic, the rotund body."

"Right. You, Private Bubblegum, are mesomorphic," Anko confirmed. "Unless you starve or permanently bedrid yourself, you're never going to be just skin and bones. And not only that but putting on muscle ain't all that difficult for you. Even now, with as little physical training as you've had, there's a level of muscle tone on you. Your chakra seems to be in on the ploy, too.

"I've known kunoichi your age who worked twice, even three times harder than you but had a chakra capacity not a single drop bigger than your own. While not anything super like mine or that bigmouthed teammate of yours, by the time you stop growing upwards, you could have more chakra than seventy percent of the Hidden Leaf kunoichi, no sweat. To top it all off, you've got such damn near-perfect control to go along with it, you could probably... well, do fucking _anything,_ really."

Her sensei then locked on her with an intimidating glare, causing her to almost take a step back lest she risk soiling herself. "And _what exactly_ have you done with this shitload of potential thrumming in your veins? Played hooky during your PE class? Twirled a lock of hair and made googly eyes at the Uchiha in the middle of every spar? Or maybe you had pervy fantasies about sucking his d-"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! I suck. I screwed up. I know all that already!" She interrupted the adult loudly, feeling gradually worse with every accusation she made, not to mention thoroughly embarrassed at the last implication. But she couldn't afford to wallow. Not again, so she did _not_ need to be reminded and be thrown back into that depressed state from yesterday.

She'd dug herself into one hole already; she didn't want to end up digging an entirely new one. "That's why we're here, isn't it? To fix it, and I don't see how pointing out mistakes I'm already aware of is gonna make a difference," Sakura argued strongly.

Anko narrowed her eyes - she couldn't tell whether it was in anger or something else - before sighing deeply in resignation. "Fair enough. No use crying over spilled, milk, I guess," the snake-summoner agreed begrudgingly, though Sakura could sense that she wasn't yet completely over the issue.

She should probably expect at least one more tirade about it in the future.

"Count your blessings that you're a late bloomer, brat. Now, I know most of you preteen girls want the big titties ASAP so you could look all pretty and shit. In your case, however, you should count yourself lucky for being on the very cusp of puberty at 13," Anko said pointedly.

"E-Excuse me?" she stuttered, mildly offended and crossing her arms over her chest. A late bloomer? Her? She'd been one of the tallest girls in her graduating class, and it wasn't like she was lacking in certain areas of the female anatomy. Not any more than the other girls her age, at least.

More importantly, if what her mentor said was true, she failed to understand how it played a part in her training.

"You heard me." Anko grinned smugly, arching her back just a bit more just to mock her. "Puberty is the period where your body is most susceptible to growth and change. Your hormone production skyrockets, and that is the window of opportunity we're going to abuse maliciously. A surplus of growth hormones and even testosterone is circulating in your bloodstream, which boosts both your muscle growth and chakra capacity like it was going out of style."

Sakura's eyes widened in understanding. "Now that you mention it, I remember reading about that once." She furrowed her brow and gave her sensei an inquiring look. "But still, sensei, how do you know I'm just entering puberty? Most girls are 11 when it happens. I haven't ever heard of a two-year delay happening."

The purple-haired kunoichi shrugged indifferently. "Chalk it down to late-onset puberty. And besides, who gives a shit? I just told you it was to your benefit. I could tell because any good ANBU and torture expert should know human anatomy like the back of their hand. Plus, it helped that I got to see your parents, tall bastards they are. Your mom is, what, 172 cm? And your old man is around 185."

She then gave the girl a pointed look. "But you? With your current height, without that puberty-instigated growth spurt, you would be half a head shorter than your mom by the time the growing stops. Let me tell ya, without some physical deficit, _that_ would be almost unheard of. So I did the math. That's it."

That was true enough. Both her mom and dad were of above average height, and the likelihood of her being tall was therefore nigh-unequivocal. Anko's theory was also supported by the fact she hadn't had her first period yet, an event she wasn't looking forward to thanks to her mother's warnings and the biology books she read.

Cramps, nausea, moodiness, or, better yet, all of them together sounded just _grand._

"Well, it was a nice, little chat we had, but let's not waste any more daylight," Anko said as she stood up and a kunai shot into her hand from within her sleeve. A darkly amused expression graced her features when Sakura stiffened, eyes trained on the weapon twirling around her index finger. "It's already been established that your physical side needs the most work, so we'll start with that."

The kunai embedded itself into the soil by her side.

"Taijutsu only. Come at me with the intent to snap my neck!"

* * *

What was the essence of power?

Was it having numerous skills, never really mastering any one but having proficiency all the same, counteracting the downside with overwhelming variety and unpredictability?

Or was it having much fewer skills to rely on, but possessing supreme competence in their execution to balance that flaw out?

It didn't end there; there were subcategories to consider. Was it better to have abilities that focused on taking down one opponent, or those that had a wider-range destructive effect, intended to finish off multiple foes? Was offensive better than defensive? Was defensive better than supplementary? Would you rather trap or weaken your enemy first and deal the finishing blow when incapacitated, or dodge, defend, and hide until they ran out of steam?

This was a riddle Sasuke Uchiha had been trying to solve since he'd been 8 years old, and it felt like he was no closer to an answer than he had been then. Maybe even worse, considering he had lost to someone his idiot teammate, class clown, and best friend had beaten.

All that training, all that time spent making sure his considerable talent was cultivated to achieve maximum potential, all for the sake of becoming strong enough to kill _him..._ it all felt so _wasted_.

Sparks of electricity extended from his hand as he growled in frustration, bathing the grass right underneath it in white light.

What was it that made Naruto Uzumaki so damn strong in such a short time? His training? Or maybe his style simply had a natural advantage against Gaara, while Sasuke's own was incompatible? Naruto had said it was his desire to protect his friends, him and Sakura, that had given the boy strength, but doubts plagued his mind.

There had been plenty of Uchiha clansmen on the day of the massacre that had something precious to protect, and it hadn't stopped Itachi from butchering them _and_ their families.

Hatred drove them both; Itachi to kill indiscriminately, and Sasuke to kill for vengeance. It gave them a reason to test their power and improve further, to end life for their own sake. The only thing that set them apart was their moral convictions. Itachi Uchiha was evil incarnate, while Sasuke Uchiha was the one who would make things _right._

By any means necessary.

For him to do that, he needed to get stronger. But how would he do that, and what path to take? Fight like his friend or fight like his brother?

The large stone formation stood a few meters in front of him like the world's most convenient target, charging at it with no hesitation.

Naruto was basically a chakra monster, able to dish out highly taxing jutsu with the frequency of a pressurized hose spewing out water. Generally, that took the form of covering an entire area in shadow clones, effectively creating a sea of garish, eye-scorching orange. Plus, there was his otherworldly stamina and durability, enduring hits and stress like a champ and a half, and then recovering in record time.

If nothing else, Sasuke could admire that about him.

Itachi, on the other hand, was like a scalpel, if a scalpel could slice through even the most sturdy materials by finding the weak spot with amazing analytical skills. He didn't know all his brother's jutsus and tricks, but he'd always been something of a perfectionist, practicing a technique until he could do it flawlessly. Though that method would normally take a lot of time, the rotten bastard wasn't a genius for nothing.

However, the one blemish in his spotless repertoire was his chakra reserves. The raven-haired genin remembered his father once complaining about how his brother had average reserves for a Leaf shinobi.

And below average for an Uchiha.

In other words, spamming out chakra-intensive jutsu would rarely ever be something Itachi could afford. For the time being, that was the only advantage Sasuke was consciously aware of, since his latest medical tests, taken just two days ago at Kakashi's insistence, showed that his chakra capacity was in the 94th percentile of all 13-year-old Leaf ninja in the last twenty years.

His arm dug deep into the stone, the Chidori carving a path with minimal ease.

Hence the jutsu practice. If he was to practice the Chidori every two days, do daily physical exercise, and maybe learn another Fire technique from his clan's library, his increased control complemented by the boost in chakra capacity should allow him to perform the powerful jutsu thrice a day in about two weeks time, give or take a day or two.

That is, without using Orochimaru's Curse Mark.

Stepping back from the smoking rock formation while turning his Sharingan off, he gripped the back of his left shoulder where the cursed seal was located. Its influence significantly diminished from within the barriers of Kakashi's seal, its presence was nonetheless like a steady thrum, not unlike the pulse of his heart beneath his fingers, never letting him forget that it was _there._

He didn't know where he stood with it. On one hand, it gave him power that allowed his body to surpass its current limitations, and with it came a sense of ecstasy that was just intoxicating. And yet, that same feeling made him wary. It was one thing to experience a surge of bloodlust at the thought of his wretched sibling; it was another at the thought of hurting someone else, like that Sound genin he had never even met before then.

Such an effortless loss of his composure unnerved him. He was afraid if he was to truly give in even further, he'd end up hurting someone close to him, or worse.

Orochimaru of the Sannin was an epitome of evil on the same level as Itachi. Sasuke knew that. For whatever reason he'd been given this thing, it hadn't been charity.

But still, the Curse Mark had saved his life, but even with its help, Gaara had come out triumphant in their battle. And later, when Naruto, in worse condition than him, had stepped forward and took that monster down, the feeling of inadequacy had been overwhelming. That smile Naruto had worn on his face when he'd fallen prey to the spell of unconsciousness had only made the feeling worse.

And this only made the sense of internal conflict worse. Naruto was his best friend - not that he'd admit it - and he felt like a bastard for feeling contempt toward his progress. But no matter by how much he imagined Naruto getting stronger, he could never imagine the blond defeating someone of Itachi's caliber.

And if he couldn't do it, how could Sasuke, someone who was possibly even _weaker_ , do it?

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was meant to be the best, the strongest, for only the strongest would be able to bring the traitor Itachi Uchiha to justice.

And yet, as always, he was second best. First to his brother, now to his friend. How had such a mortifying vicissitude come to pass? His hands shook with rage and frustration, putting them in the proper position for the Chidori's activation. Having done it twice already, he knew what he was about to do was extremely inadvisable, outright stupid even, not that he cared.

He just wanted to destroy something before the welling emotions became too much to handle. Flickers of Lightning Style chakra began to emanate from his hand, the jutsu's characteristic sound reaching his ears.

However, a sudden grip on his arm knocked him out of his stupor, the electricity fading into nothingness.

"My, my! It breaks my heart to know my own students don't listen to my advice."

The Uchiha looked up at Kakashi's masked face, his own visage slipping back to its usual expression as he scoffed to futilely hide the lapse in judgment. "I'll consider controlling my impulses as soon as you do the same thing about your tardiness."

"And here I thought it was part of my charm, but I guess that's a fair deal," the white-haired shinobi said, releasing his arm. He cocked his head at his student. "Penny for your troubled, emo-ish thoughts?"

Sasuke scowled as he rubbed the appendage gingerly, the expected ripple of pain coming through from using the Chidori more times than he should have. Good thing he'd done the physical training earlier; his arm would've been too shot to work out now. He turned to his sensei, "What are you doing here?"

The man sniffed, tucking his hands into his pockets before answering, " Hello to you too, my rude, little genin. I just thought you should know that I'm taking over your personal training from now on until further notice."

His brow furrowed in confusion. Hadn't he been doing that already? "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is team training has officially been canceled," Kakashi clarified, causing him to stop and stare in surprise. "Each genin of Team 7 is receiving private tuition. I am assigned to be your personal trainer, while Naruto and Sakura each have their own allocated tutors."

Sasuke... didn't know what to think about that. He'd gotten used to the intensity and shenanigans those two commonly displayed. They were friends, simple as that. Perhaps not the sort that hung out constantly and went out for barbeque, but a solid relationship was shared between the three rookie shinobi.

Nevertheless, he wasn't blind to what this new arrangement signified. With their forces depleted and assignments split between reconstruction and regular missions, the fact the Hokage disbanded his team and appointed shinobi - all of them high-ranking more likely than not - to instruct them individually during such a crucial time meant that a vested interest was placed upon Team 7's development.

He couldn't help the smirk of pride gracing his face. That also meant something else. "It seems I'll be making an effort to get my impulses under control sooner than I thought," he said to his mentor teasingly. Since the Hokage himself had authorized this arrangement, it constituted a certain level of importance.

Which meant the days of Kakashi's lousy sense of timing had been brought to a swift and abrupt halt.

At least in regards to Sasuke's training.

The ninja in question merely shrugged. "Alas, all good things must come to an end. Seeing as you're a bit too worse for wear to train anymore, we'll start tomorrow at Training Grounds 7, the usual time."

Before, the "usual time" had meant Team 7 meeting up 8 in the morning at the aforementioned training grounds. Well, the three genins meeting up at 8 and their sensei arriving anywhere between 9:30 and 11 AM with lame excuses abound. Thank God he hadn't done that during the month before the final stage of the Exams, and it was doubtful Kakashi's annoying habit would make a rebound tomorrow.

He frowned at the reminder that not everything would be 'usual', though.

"Kakashi, will the others and I be teaming up again in the future?" the black-haired teen asked, too embarrassed to directly confess his unease at the thought of Team 7 being _forever_ disbanded.

The crinkle in the adult's eye showed he well understood the underlying emotion. "I imagine so. You three have formed a rapport that is ultimately reliable, shaky and turbulent as it might be on occasion. It would be a pity and a disservice to let it go to waste." He gave his protege a knowing look. "Which, by the way, you almost single-handedly achieved during the invasion."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in the man's direction. "Gaara was getting away. What was I supposed to do? Just sit and do nothing?"

"Despite what you and many others may think, that is not necessarily a bad idea. Getting involved also carries the risk of making things worse, or getting yourself killed for nothing. No one told you to chase after him, and I'm pretty sure I didn't give any such orders myself," Kakashi said with uncharacteristic firmness.

"I _was_ ordered, actually, by the proctor," he responded pointedly.

His sensei's eye widened for a moment before sighing in mild annoyance. "Remind me to give Genma a talking-to for ordering _my_ genin around."

The teen snorted in amusement. It had been the middle of an invasion, a direct attack on their home village. Teacher-student relationships hadn't mattered; only official rankings had. This Genma, at least a chunin and higher up than him had had full authority to command Sasuke to go after Gaara and stop him since the red-head had obviously been a key element in the Sand's arsenal.

He didn't bother correcting Kakashi, though. There was little doubt the man already knew all that. He was probably just trying to vent, and frankly, Sasuke simply didn't care enough about the proctor to stop any confrontation between him and the silver-haired jonin.

And besides...

"Our fight wasn't finished," he said, so low Kakashi almost failed to hear him.

His sensei stared at him blankly, making it impossible for him to even guess his thoughts. After a few short moments of awkward silence, the man sighed again, resignation permeating the exhaled air. "You kids are really gonna drive me up the wall one day, unless your troublesome penchant for acting with wild abandon doesn't kill me first, of course."

He combed a gloved hand through his hair, a single, stern eye keyed on him. "I can understand pride and wanting to prove your strength, but is it really worth risking your life to such an extent?"

The teen glared at him sharply, incensed at his insinuation. What did he know? "If I can't risk my life against someone like Gaara, then how can I ever hope to face _him_?"

"And how can you ever hope to face him if you're dead?" That statement momentarily caught him off guard, and he turned his gaze away, not wanting to admit its validity. Kakashi continued regardless, "You're gunning for Itachi to avenge the murder of your family, but your current, _living_ family would despair if you were to just keel over like that. Have you ever thought about that?"

No, he hadn't. Even as they were now, most of his thought process was expended on either finding new ways to improve or imagining a gruesome death for the treacherous Uchiha at his own hands. There simply hadn't been a reason to contemplate anything else.

However, now that Kakashi brought the topic up, his thoughts strayed toward his teammates: the lovable, if vexatious dumbass that was Naruto, and Sakura, the hot-headed fangirl with analytical skills comparable to the Sharingan and enough book smarts to fill an entire classroom and then some. Simply the very idea of them being hurt in any way brought an unexpected pang to his chest, caused by a caring he hadn't fully realized he'd developed for them.

Still, since day one he'd made it crystal clear what his ultimate ambition was, and not even they could persuade him otherwise. "They'd understand. At least, Naruto would," he remarked. If anyone could understand the need to get stronger, the unshakable drive for a goal, it was the blond Uzumaki.

" _Naruto_ , really? Reason and he aren't exactly on good terms, you know," his sensei snorted. "You oughtta stop telling him not to run headlong into trouble if you're just gonna turn around and do the same thing. Sets a bad example and all that, and then you can't really blame the guy for thinking such advice is all a load of crap."

In spite of the fact that Kakashi was somewhat insulting him in a very unsubtle, roundabout fashion, Sasuke smirked to himself. Maybe he _was_ setting a bad example, but it wasn't like Naruto had anyone to go headhunting after either. As fiercely opinionated and temperamental as he was, the Uchiha survivor didn't think he had enough bad bones in him to ever think spitefully enough of anyone to actually want to kill them.

Enough to want them pounded to the ground, certainly, but no more than that.

Speaking of which, he wondered who had the _honor_ of teaching that loser.

* * *

Tobirama aimed a backhand chop towards Naruto's head. The strike was promptly dodged via ducking underneath it.

The former kage then sent a low kick with his left leg, which Naruto avoided by jumping over it. His mistake, though, was jumping upwards instead of backward, thus remaining within Tobirama's reach, and the man had every intention of pointing it out. Bringing the foot he had just used for the kick down to the ground, he pivoted on it and sent a spinning kick with the other one.

However, in place of the blond being sent flying to the side, Tobirama was momentarily caught off guard when Naruto put his hand on the leg, not to stop it but to use the force of the kick to spin himself and lash out with his own foot.

He, of course, blocked the kick with his left forearm, but his great-grandson immediately put his other foot on the appendage and pushed himself off in a backflip away from him. In a burst of speed, Tobirama closed the distance and landed a light palm strike to Naruto's back while he was still in the air, getting a yelp out of him and knocking him back a few meters.

"Your reaction was good, but unless you're going to counter immediately after, a dodge by leaping should only be done if you're going to put some distance between yourself and your foe," the white-haired man lectured his student.

"Yes, sensei," Naruto groaned a bit as he stood up, though Tobirama knew his durability and recovery speed ensured that the blow hadn't caused any great pain.

Out of all his physical attributes, Naruto's stamina and reserves of energy were by far the most impressive. An Uzumaki through and through.

Beside that, this hadn't been the first time his descendant had surprised him with a maneuver or evaded an attack he had expected to land in the last six days. While Naruto had a few rough edges, he often made up for them with an instinctive ability to perform unorthodox moves on the fly. Tobirama had realized early on the truth behind Kakashi's assessment of his former student.

Naruto's short-range combat instincts truly were phenomenal.

As the Sharingan wielder had said, when intuition steadily took over and emotion was replaced by intense focus, Naruto entered a state that made him seem like an entirely different person; savage in his effectiveness without actually becoming a savage.

It was somewhat eerie of just how much it reminded him of Madara Uchiha.

He didn't despair over it. In fact, and he could _not_ believe the idea was even contemplated, Tobirama was celebrating their likeness. A monster and traitor Madara might have been, but more than either of those things, he had been an incredibly powerful shinobi.

Overall, Naruto's preferred style of combat was much more like Madara's and his own than, say, Hashirama's. Though he'd focus on direct, brute force at the start, the emphasis would switch to speed and agility as they progressed, his flexibility was good, and he had an uncanny ability to use unpredictable patterns of attacks when _really_ into the spar. His strength was above average for his age; not unexpected of an Uzumaki and a Senju.

Either way, it was blatantly obvious that heavy taijutsu training was a must.

Tobirama turned his gaze toward the ten Naruto shadow clones being instructed by one of his own on the kunai hovering chakra exercise. Having listened to Jiraiya's advice, chakra control had been the main focus of Naruto's training. His water-walking had been polished up a bit by having him and his shadow clones do taijutsu katas while standing on the surface of the river.

However amusing the blond's yells of dismay had been for every time one of them fell into the water, the undead kage was quick to give him a 'silence is golden' lecture.

Two days into their training, Tobirama had started him on nature transformation with Water as his first choice. Though off to a bit of a rocky start, he'd managed to get a leaf entirely wet on the fourth day of training, which was followed by him swiftly learning the Water Style: Liquid Bullet on the fifth. The first step to mastering Wind would begin tomorrow, and he expected Naruto to learn a Wind Style jutsu by the time they had to leave.

Most of this would take place in the mornings and afternoons. After a big lunch and an hour of rest, plenty of time with his enhanced healing and metabolism, Tobirama would have him do a variety of physical workouts. Most of them were meant to target his speed, coordination, and reflexes, making good use of the woods around them as an impromptu obstacle course, often made more challenging by the various touches Tobirama added to the exercises.

He had taught Naruto on the first day that muscle growth was a defense mechanism, the body's reaction to prevent itself from feeling the same strain it felt during a heavy workout. As such, the growth happened not in the midst of the exercises, but during the healing process.

With Naruto's accelerated recovery rate and durable body, it meant the jinchuriki could train his body longer and more often than more... _conventional_ human beings, without the negative health drawbacks.

Of course, while clones could help in the development of muscle memory, their physical condition reflected the original, not the other way around, and even the transference of reflexes through clones wasn't a perfect practice. It all boiled down to Naruto having to do each and every exercise alongside his copies during agility and reflex training, and doing strength training by his lonesome.

All in all, it'd been a satisfying six days; Tobirama had little to complain about. Perhaps the only thing that put a bit of a damper on that was Naruto's almost nonexistent self-control. God, he could be loud when excited.

Thankfully, he'd seemed to finally get the gist of his repeated rebukes and toned it down somewhat in the last couple days.

It was a start, if nothing else.

Naruto raising a hand, as he'd taught him, brought him back to the present. "Grandpa, can I be the attacker now? I've been doing defense and countering for the last _two hours_."

Glancing up at the Sun, he realized it was true. They'd started the sparring session by creating three clones each, where he and his copies would be on the offensive and the Narutos would defend by dodging, parrying, blocking, and countering, the only time they were allowed to strike back. After about an hour had gone by, all the clones had been undone, but the originals had kept fighting to allow Naruto to assimilate the combined experience.

"Yes, I think we've practiced your defensive capabilities enough for today. Take a breather, Naruto."

The Uzumaki slumped his shoulders in relief, emitting a loud sigh. Even he had started feeling some effects of exhaustion at the rate they'd been going. Hell, boredom had begun setting in, in the middle of a _fight,_ of all things."Thank God! I-"

"Oogie boogie boogie!"

 _What the fu-_

Something hard struck his back, sending a lance of pain down his spine. The blow sent him flying and then rolling along the ground. When he finally stopped, he groaned lightly in discomfort and pulled himself into a seated position, rubbing his aching back. He glared at the intruder, also having noticed he was about fifteen meters away from where he'd been standing previously.

"The _fuck_ , Pervy Sage?!"

That super-pervert only had the gal to laugh, already in one of his stupid poses. "It is I, the great Jiraiya, and I've come to test your mettle, young grasshopper!"

That little... "That was below the belt, attacking me while my guard was down, ya perv! So unfair."

"Fair?" the sage asked, an exaggerated expression of confusion and outrage overtaking his visage. "I know not what this is. I, boy, am a shinobi!"

Growling under his breath, Naruto got to his feet. Well, if that was how he wanted to play it, _fine_. Bending his knees, he sprang forward with a punch aimed at the face grinning disgustingly at him.

"A direct, frontal attack?! You're a fool for thinking me such an amateur, boy!" Pervy Sage exclaimed, ducking down and aiming an uppercut toward his stomach. When it landed, however, Naruto burst into smoke.

Surprise flitted across Jiraiya's face for a mere moment before he turned around to block a kick from the blond.

"A substitution with a shadow clone? A trick?"

Naruto smirked. "The hell's a trick? Imma ninja, Dummy Sage, and there's more where that came from!"

A shadow then appeared right above the man's head, growing larger by the millisecond. The sannin reacted at a moment's notice, leaping backward to dodge the axe kick from a second Naruto, the force of the attack causing a miniature crater to form beneath his foot, a small cloud of smoke rising from it.

Jiraiya stared blankly for a second, the first Naruto dispelling to reveal himself as the shadow clone, before laughing jovially. The genin didn't know whether he was being mocked or not, but the sound alone made one of his eyes twitch. This guy really knew how to get under his skin sometimes.

"That's the spirit, kid!" Pervy Sage declared proudly, entering into another fighting pose. "Now, show me what ya got."

Naruto was all too happy to oblige him, charging forward with intention of pummeling his face.

Tobirama just observed the sudden sparring bout from the sidelines. He was glad to note that it didn't take his great-grandson any time at all to enter his focused state, though he could still merely be high from their earlier session. Nonetheless, progress was visible and that was all that mattered for the moment.

After about twenty minutes, Jiraiya decided he had seen enough and ended the fight by locking the boy's arms behind his back and planting him against the ground on his stomach. Naruto struggled for a few short seconds but soon realized he was in no position to continue their spar. "Fine, fine, you win! Get off me already!" he demanded, disappointed that he hadn't succeeded in landing even a _single_ hit on his opponent.

The Toad Sage hummed, letting go of the hold. "Not too shabby, squirt."

Naruto let out a small 'whoosh' of air, exhaustion coming on strong now. He looked up at his master, calm in comparison to his prior theatrical aura. "Why do you have to be such a goddamned drama queen all the time, Pervy Sage? Isn't the fact you're the most peeping of all peeping Toms bad enough?"

The old goat shrugged nonchalantly, a small grin blooming on his face. "Experience makes you both wiser and weirder. When you get to be my age, you start to appreciate the simple things in life."

A single, distinctly unimpressed eyebrow was raised. As if the blond genin would buy that he'd ever been anything but an exhibitionistic lech. "Simple, huh?" he muttered, scoffing. "Sounds about right."

His muttering apparently hadn't been silent enough for the sage rolled his eyes. "That's taking the 'pot calling the kettle black' thing to whole new level. You're the _last_ person I want to hear that from. I got enough of that shit from my team back when I was a young buck."

"Well, I'm sure you had it comin'," Naruto commented, supreme confidence in his tone.

A chuckle was his response. "Yeah. Admittedly, I did a few times. Trust me, the old man may give off that grandfatherly vibe like a boss, but he wears the Hokage hat for a reason. He could go all prison warden on ya in the blink of an eye. Scary old coot, he is."

Naruto shivered, his last meeting with the Third Hokage well etched in his psyche, that short moment of terror when the strict disciplinarian had taken over the person whom, in his head, he had dubbed 'grandpa' like a demonic possession. "He is. I know."

"Really?" Jiraiya asked, a note of bewilderment in his voice. "What'd you do to piss him off so bad?"

"Nothing. We were arguing, and I yelled a bit, sure... but it's not like it's the first time I raised my voice at him or anything," the Uzumaki answered, uncertain.

"Huh? Then you probably didn't really make him angry at all." The sage waved a hand dismissively. "You're a pretty brazen kid, you know. He probably just wanted to teach you to show respect while in the office. Wouldn't want you bursting in and actin' like a cocksure brat while in the middle of negotiations with a noble, or worse, a fellow kage, unlikely as it is."

Naruto cringed, imagining the scenario from an outsider's view. He would've been hard-pressed to trust the authority of a kage who couldn't even keep their youngest and most impressionable subordinates in line. The shinobi of the Hidden Leaf held deep trust in the old man, and Naruto would've died of shame if he had ever had a hand in portraying him as an incompetent chief of his people.

"I know I shouldn't've carped at him like I did, but I couldn't help it. So many damn secrets, all to keep me safe, and I want to find fault with it, but it's hard when I know how royally I could've fucked up had I been told the truth," the jinchuriki said somberly.

"Them's the brakes, kid. It's the Hokage's executive prerogative to withhold sensitive information that could put a serious dent in the village should it fall into the wrong hands. Don't think you're all that special in that regard," the sannin replied, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder in a mild gesture of comfort.

Naruto appreciated the small effort, though he felt a bit like shit about it. He perked up then, his eyes gleaming eagerly. "So, Pervy Sage, you here to teach me a super-cool jutsu? You sure took your sweet time finding us."

"Sorry, not yet. I just came here to see how you're doin'. Soon though," Jiraiya responded, much to Naruto's disappointment. A sudden thoughtful expression graced the man's face, looking toward the clones practicing the kunai hovering. He shrugged in sort of 'what the heck' way soon after. "Eh, why not? Here, kid. I've got something for you." Reaching into his coat, he pulled out something that left the blond thoroughly gob-smacked.

Hanging between his index finger and thumb were two pieces of balloon rubber.

Naruto watched, bemused, as he stretched one open. His cheeks then bulged a little, almost as if about to throw up, prompting Naruto to take a step forward in concern. Instead of disgusting bodily fluid, however, water was spat directly into the balloon, filling it up. Jiraiya tied it closed and repeated the process with the other one. One of them was tossed in his direction, which he caught and stared at for a little while, still as confused as before.

Jiraiya switched his gaze between his protege and Tobirama who had come nearer to observe. "Watch closely," he instructed, holding the object out a bit. Naruto dutifully listened, too curious to do anything else, and was taken aback when protrusions began appearing all over the balloon and the thing burst into pieces, the water spilling out violently.

"This oughtta help you with your chakra control. Don't ask me how exactly I did that; figure it out for yourself. The basic idea, though, is to use chakra to pop open the balloon," the Toad Sage explained, pulling out a small sack filled to the brim with balloons. He turned to leave after giving it but stopped for a moment. "Oh, and you can't use nature transformation; pure chakra manipulation only. Don't be surprised if you don't get it by the time we hit the road. In fact, I don't expect you to."

Naruto pouted with indignation as a plume of smoke covered his form, the man nowhere to be found when it dispersed. Taking the last comment as a challenge, he put the sack away into his pouch and got into a ready stance with the balloon in his hand.

He was gonna prove that old pervert wrong, and rub his eventual success in his warted nose.

With his focus on the rubber object, he missed Tobirama gazing pensively at the spot where Jiraiya had disappeared. Nodding decisively, he turned to his great-grandson, finding him in deep concentration, the balloon he was holding moving in a manner that indicated that all the water inside was being rotated in a single direction.

Having already deduced that the idea was to make the liquid churn in multiple directions simultaneously, he opted to follow the sannin's instructions and let Naruto work it out on his own, but later. He had a new task for the young shinobi.

"Put it away, Naruto. You can continue that exercise tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to teach you a new jutsu," the undead kage commanded. "Before that, however, we'll take a lunch break and a short respite. Undo the seals."

An excited gleam entered the boy's eyes, quickly dropping the balloon by his side. Closing his eyes, he sent a small surge of chakra throughout his body and felt a literal weight lift off his shoulders.

On their first day of physical training, his grandfather had placed a seal drawn on a paper tag on each of his limbs and his torso. What they did was multiply the weight of the body part upon activation, based on intent. In his mind, he dubbed them as 'levels'. During today's training, under Tobirama's advice, he had used Level 1.5, meaning his body had become 1.5 times heavier.

While it wasn't much initially, he had soon realized that extended periods of time under the increased weight had eaten away at his stamina and forced him to really push himself in order to maintain his usual speed, strength, and agility.

When doing physical workouts, he'd up the ante and use Level 2, since he'd be active in shorter but more intense bursts.

"What jutsu are you gonna teach me, grandpa?" Naruto asked intently, hoping it would be very useful and, more importantly, stunningly awesome.

His ancestor didn't answer right away. Instead, smoke suddenly engulfed his shape, the same way it did Pervy Sage. He stood and stared, dumbfounded, before the Second Hokage's voice from behind startled the living daylights out of him.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Body Flicker Jutsu?"

* * *

"I should have foreseen this."

Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses in that way of his that Orochimaru found both annoying and endearing. "I'm afraid, my lord, that nobody could have anticipated this outcome," he assured him, his voice almost as silky as his own.

"The Reanimation Jutsu is his creation, and the man certainly has no lack of caution. It's why he's my favorite Hokage, after all," the snake-summoner replied, a mild note of frustration in his voice.

They were at one of his hideouts a few miles east of the Village Hidden in the Grass, having decided that the Land of Sound would have been the first choice of where to look in case of potential pursuers. Besides, this was one of his 'lucky' bases, where the rate of success with his experiments had been relatively high thus far.

It was made worse when he had to start taking medication for his failing body.

"Nothing we can do about it now, I suppose. We should be grateful that we and the four of the Sound Five had made it out alive. If I may ask, what are your current plans?" his loyal subordinate asked.

Orochimaru leaned his head against his fist, considering his options. Tobirama Senju's presence made things difficult, no doubt having made the decision to remain within the mortal realm to hunt him down. At least, the reanimated shinobi didn't have access to his full power; seventy-five percent at most. And even with his speed and proficiency at teleportation ninjutsu, he was far from clairvoyant.

"Sasuke," Orochimaru answered finally. "We have to bring him into the fold. As long as Itachi lives, and the Curse Mark permeates his being, his ties to the village will be tenuous at best. However, I imagine Sarutobi-sensei will bulk up the border patrols due to the invasion, as well as to give the impression of strength to the Leaf's rivals."

"Which means sending your subordinates to retrieve him would be a lost cause, seeing as you're no longer in the condition to undertake such a risky operation yourself," Kabuto stated with full confidence.

Though he often appreciated the silver-haired man's bluntness, it could be awfully aggravating when he was in no mood of being reminded of the obvious. "Unfortunately, but all is not lost. I merely need time to figure something out."

"I understand, Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto paused then, causing his leader to look at him curiously. One thoughtful silence later, his right-hand man spoke, "What about Lady Tsunade? If she were to hear of the Second Hokage's revival, with a few facts twisted to our benefit, could we convince her to fight against the Leaf? From what I heard, she's been away from her home village for almost twenty years. There must be some love lost there."

Orochimaru smirked. That right there, that ability to come up and consider previously unconsidered plans was one of the many reasons the medic and spy had become his top subordinate, and the only one he could honestly admit he trusted. Not fully, of course, but he could rely on Kabuto to judiciously act on his own without his personal direction.

It was an efficient system in his opinion; one henchman to advise him, contradict him even should he feel it necessary, and a host of nigh-blindly loyal followers to do his every bidding. Even he wasn't arrogant enough to claim the monopoly of being right all the time. Having a single subordinate, a highly intelligent and practical one to keep him focused and bounce ideas off of was plenty.

It lowered the risks of treachery, and even should treachery occur, it could be stamped out quickly and with extreme prejudice.

"A very unorthodox idea, but I'm afraid it's a moot point. The news will soon spread that it was I who brought her great-uncle _and_ grandfather back from the dead. Even should we reach her first, the farce would only last so long."

"Shouldn't we be worried about her returning to the Leaf, then? She might want to seek vengeance on you should that tidbit of information reach her," Kabuto said somewhat worriedly.

"I wouldn't fret too much, Kabuto. She's grown rather disillusioned with the way of the shinobi, not to mention her hemophobia prevents her from engaging in direct combat. Not that I can guarantee that the condition still ails her. In her heart, that woman will always be a medic, so it's possible she's cured herself of it," Orochimaru commented.

For that very reason, he decided not make an assassination attempt on her either. The Sound Five were among the only ones he could trust to get the job done, and even with them, the chances of success would have been slim. Now was not the time to risk the lives of his most capable soldiers.

"Yes. I kind of admire her myself. If memory serves me well, she's the one who came up with the one-medic-per-squad system, including several other medical reforms," Kabuto said.

The sannin chuckled in amusement. Oh, the irony. "Actually, it was I who suggested the idea to her, and she brought it forth to the Hokage and his council. One of my better ideas, but I do regret somewhat the influx of recruits for the Medical Corps it caused, saving the lives of a lot of Hidden Leaf ninja in the field."

"Your idea, Lord Orochimaru?" his medic asked before smirking. "Truly, your genius knows no bounds. It's a shame the obvious logistical difficulties ensured that system remained nothing more than a suggestion and a dream, though."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the cheeky young man. "Don't bother buttering me up if you're just going to insult me in turn, Kabuto. I might just snap and end your life."

"Of course, my lord," his top subordinate answered, completely unfazed. The snake-summoner elected to ignore his lip. "By the way, I should start choosing candidates for the transference ritual. Whether Sasuke is brought here on time or no, it's best that we be prepared."

"Yes, do that," Orochimaru conceded with a wave of his hand. "In the meantime, I will figure something out on bringing him to me. Soon, the power of the Sharingan will be in my hands."

* * *

 **Sorry this one took so long, but it's finally here!**

 **I'd really like your opinion on my depiction of Sakura and Sasuke. I had paid special attention to that, which was the main reason for taking me nearly two months to get this out. Leave a review!**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:**

 **On Monday (26th of March, 2018), Tobirama Senju Reincarnated: The Second Hokage's Heir, the original story, will be deleted. I apologize to many of you who enjoyed it, but I'm afraid it takes away the attention from the rewrite, while also serving as a reminder of times when my writing, my grammar, in particular, was absolute shit. At least, in my opinion. This same announcement will be posted in TSR:TSHH, so don't be surprised when a new chapter comes up.**

 **Plus, and I've been hearing this a lot, despite the announcement in the previous chapter, pairings are not yet certain. It's not a Naruto/Sakura fic. If it was, their names would be in brackets. It _might_ , and I emphasize "might", become such in the future, but if it is, it won't be anytime soon.**

 **Recommendations:**

 **Child Borne of Spring** by **Iaso**

 **An Inch of Gold** by **KuriQuinn**

 **Another Solution** by **DryBonesKing**

 **Son of the Earthshaker (Naruto & Percy Jackson crossover) **by **BonesBoy15**

 **Orochimaru**

Ninjutsu: 5 +

Taijutsu: 4 -/m

Genjutsu: 5 -

Intelligence: 5 +

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 4 -

Hand Seals: 5 +

Total: 36

 **Tsunade**

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 5 -/m

Genjutsu: 3.5

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 5 +

Speed: 4 -

Stamina: 4.5

Hand Seals: 4 m/+

Total: 36


	5. Chapter 5

Anko found it hard to believe it'd already been nearly a week and a half.

Standing by the entrance of one of the Hokage Tower's lounge rooms, she patiently waited for Kakashi to show up. It was time for the first progress report on their assigned students, and the snake summoner had plenty to disclose to her boss about her charge. Hard to admit, but most if was positive. Not that she hadn't trusted Cyclops' judgment, but doubts about the arrangement plagued her even now.

Still, she'd had her fair share of fun beating down one Sakura Haruno and building her back up over and over again. She'd made sure to go all militaristic on her ass these last eight days; Private Bubblegum had certainly needed it, and still did.

But, Anko firmly believed in giving credit where credit was due, and she had t give it to Sakura, though she didn't know whether she ought to give more credit for the amount of surprise she'd incited in her sensei, or for how much she exceeded her expectations. The genin wasn't quite the natural-born prodigy like her Uchiha friend, but she thrummed with untapped potential, which Anko had been doing her best to bring out.

The surprises had come in small amounts that she'd taken note of but quickly brushed off at the time. However, now that she was about to give her first assessment and had to sum all these little surprises up into one... well, she'd known Kakashi was wicked smart, but _fuck_ , this was scary intuitive.

As usual, his deduction had been spot on; the two kunoichi were compatible in a way that made the older one both eager and unsettled. Their uncanny similarities aside, Anko had no intention of establishing some touchy-feely sort of rapport modern-day teachers seemed so fond of doing. How were they supposed to build character and cultivate skill if they decided to get all soft on their kids?

However one sliced it, the job of the senseis was to raise soldiers ready to storm the fields of battle and engage in shadowy warfare that defined their very profession and permeated it like blood in their veins; not treat them like precious baby cousins pawned off on you by your shitty, deadbeat uncle or something. They were _not_ supposed to be family and for a very good reason.

Students could die on you at any second out there, and the only thing that bringing _personal feelings_ into play would accomplish was to make shinobi lose all sense of composure and act like a bunch of hysterical mothers, impairing their ability to properly prioritize. Seriously, these people needed a reality check.

The field was the last place for that sort of emotionally-charged, self-destructive conduct. Anko Mitarashi was staying _far_ away from that. Yes, sir.

Hence her deliberate attempts to maintain an emotional distance. Sakura Haruno was a job, nothing more, and she would make sure it stayed that way. But more than that, there was something about the brat that tugged at her; something that made her more acerbic than usual and yet caused a weird desire to reach out and _help_ to well in her insides.

She'd figured out what it was a while ago. Barely keeping herself from gritting her teeth, she pressed down on the flash of images and emotions, memories she'd long attempted to bury, willing them to _just go away_ and-

"Yo, Anko."

She turned her gaze towards the familiar voice, Kakashi strolling her way with someone else a bit behind him. "Lazy-bones," she returned in greeting. When the two came closer, her back went taut at recognizing her friend's companion. "Lord Second."

"Miss Mitarashi," he replied politely with a nod. The undead man stopped in front of the door a knocked a couple of times.

Kakashi leaned in close to her ear. "Last time I saw you so straight-backed, you'd just learned the dango shop was closing for a month due to renovations. I didn't think you so drab as to have a thing for the half-dead sort of guy," he whispered teasingly.

An elbow to his arm and an angry flush was her response. " _Shut the fuck up, Hatake_!" she hissed. "This ain't the time for one of your damn mind games." And in front of the Second friggin' Hokage, too! The white-haired jonin had a penchant for fucking with people's minds known to everybody and their dead dog, but _now,_ of all times, for it to crop up?

Kakashi merely proceeded to enter the lounge, ignoring to answer her in that nonchalant way of his that was both dickish and made one wonder ' _how the_ hell _does he do that?_ '. Not that she had any intention to find out, being far from short on her own objectionable personality quirks. Huffing, she followed in after him, resolving to get back at him later... maybe.

The Hokage was sitting in an armchair by the desk, opposite of them, and smoking his usual pipe. Thank God he was more conscientious of where he blew the smoke than his son, making sure to release the fumes in small amounts to the side. That smokestack fiend Asuma would just blow it wherever, like a dog taking a shit in the middle of the road. Hadn't that idiot been a guardian of the feudal lord once? She'd have figured that observing courtroom politics would've at least him taught _some_ modicum of manners.

Apparently not, though she probably wasn't one to judge.

While Tobirama Senju remained standing, as rigid as the tales described him to be, Kakashi and her elected to sit down. No sense in needlessly making your joints ache when a semi-official report could easily be given in a comfortable position. The Hokage obviously shared Anko's sentiment. If he'd wanted it to be all formal, this meeting would've been held in the Hokage's office.

"I'm glad to see all three of you could make it," the old man said, smiling, though holding a tint of severity that implied the importance of this meeting. "Now, let's begin with the individual assessments. Sensei?"

"With full confidence, I can say that Kakashi's initial account of Naruto's abilities was largely accurate," Tobirama declared. "With Master Jiraiya's advice, the training was predominantly focused on augmenting his chakra control and refining his fundamental skills, mostly his taijutsu and basic education. The training thus far, though not without obstacles, has yielded promising results."

"That's reassuring. I remember well the exact meaning that the phrase "promising results" held for you, Tobirama-sensei," the Third Hokage said in fond remembrance. "What about these obstacles? I hope it's nothing too worrisome."

The Second Hokage paused for a moment, seeming to contemplate how best to present his thoughts. "Physically, Naruto excels. The recovery rate and durability he inherited from his mother's clan ensure that the pace and frequency of the workout regimen are grueling without any setbacks. His strength, speed, and agility were already above average, and they've further improved in the last ten days," the reanimated shinobi elaborated.

Tobirama's face tightened a bit at the biggest issue with Naruto's training. "No, the mental aspect is the one that could be problematic. He's not lacking in intelligence, but his mindset and attitude are questionable, to say the least. He often needs outside incentive to remain focused, his self-control is inadequate at best, and his general conduct leaves a lot to be desired."

He hated to admit it, but a swell of disappointment and shame rose at the reminder of his great-grandson's thorough naivete and almost complete lack of emotional discipline. Even excitable Hashirama had exercised sound judgment more often than not, outside of his relationship with Madara. But Naruto was...

It was like he failed to understand that ninja were meant to be soldiers before warriors; an organized group of disciplined, military personnel and not a band of idealistic fighters who used their hearts to dictate their approach to battle.

If not, then the boy obviously had a very faulty notion of what a soldier was.

"I believe that's a little harsh, Lord Second," Kakashi commented with an idle note of concern.

Tobirama gave him a grave look. "A harsh truth isn't any less valid."

"Hard to blame him; he's had little to minimal support in the face of the village's ostracization and had to find ways to cope on his own. Should we really blame the kid if his coping mechanisms are a bit iffy, then?"

He knew that. Of course, he knew that, but the jonin was still not looking at the big picture. "Regardless, I can't afford to coddle him, and he can afford it even less. Emotions have a time and place, and it's _not_ during a mission. Naruto's already an active duty shinobi. I can't in good conscience send him out to possible combat scenarios if I were to take his discipline training at a snail's pace. He needs experience as much as anything else, but as it stands, his conduct would put both him and his comrades in danger.

"I _will not_ subject him to that if it can be avoided, and I most certainly won't stake my hopes on him learning such a lesson by putting him and others at needless risk," Tobirama proclaimed with finality. "Frankly, he's beyond fortunate he's survived so far. The grave errors he made during the Wave mission would've spelled Team 7's doom had your enemy been just a mite more ruthless."

The Second Hokage had rarely ever felt as much embarrassment as when he'd heard about Naruto's blunders during the course of that mission, in particular during the bridge battle. Revealing himself to the enemy instead of striking from the shadows, and blindly charging into the ice mirrors when he should've forced Haku on the defensive with a war on two fronts, him on the outside and Sasuke on the inside.

Tactics and common sense, thrown to the wind just like that.

All so he could look like a _hero_.

Had Haku been a smidge more merciless, Naruto would've been killed early on, Sasuke soon after, probably followed by Kakashi after Haku and Zabuza ganged up on him, and finally, Sakura and the bridge builder. More than that, as the Leaf would not have wasted men on a venture with no economic benefits, their death in that battle would have seen the Land of Waves' continued subjugation going on unchecked.

"All because Naruto wanted to look like a hero."

Haku had been special, an unlikely sort of enemy; the sort shinobi didn't normally meet on the field. The success of the Wave mission could not be hinged upon as an example of proper conduct on Naruto's part. In his mind, Tobirama had little doubt he saw it as good justification to continue his 'unique' way of doing things.

Kakashi at least had the grace to look a bit sheepish at the reminder. By all means, he should've been sterner, and had even planned to give him a serious lecture regarding those stunts of his, but when the blond boy had confessed his fondness for the two former enemies, Kakashi's heart had gone out to him.

Naruto understood that 'enemy' did not necessarily mean 'evil person'. He understood that enemies were just people, fellow humans, but with goals of their own. The jonin sensei hadn't wanted to snuff that out. There were more than enough ninja who spilled blood without mercy and hesitation; surely, his sensei's son didn't need to be one of those, too. So, he'd just agreed and left it at that.

When had he gotten so soft? Was it really worth it if it only encouraged an attitude that, in their line of work, made him a liability to himself and others?

"The main issue, Lord Second, is that Naruto has suffered and had to deal with this ostracization since the time he could remember his first independent potty time. Everything about him, all of his habits, his demeanor, even his ideology are rooted in his coping mechanisms," Kakashi elaborated. "Loud all the time? Kinda makes it hard _not_ to notice him. Wears bright orange? Probably - _hopefully_ \- because it makes him stand out."

He gave the former kage a pointed look. "Worships heroes and the folktale principles of heroism? Because _everybody_ loves a hero."

Though he conceded the point, Tobirama narrowed his eyes at the insinuation. "I fail to understand what you're getting at. Are you saying I should just let him run amok whenever he gets emotional or just _feels_ like it? Ignore protocol and the chain of command simply because he disagrees? You know very well that's unacceptable."

"All due respect, Lord Second, all I'm sayin' is that you can't force the issue." The white-haired jonin sighed. "You'll sooner make it worse than better. Tear apart the foundation with thoughtless abandon, and everything collapses in a way you can't build back up. Naruto's more fragile than he shows; please exercise caution."

"I feel like we're going off on a tangent here," Anko piped in just as the Second Hokage was about to argue. While the topic was certainly of great importance, she didn't want to be here any longer than needed. The two could have a go at each other without wasting _her_ time. "We're here to submit the individual reports on the former Team 7 members. Naruto Uzumaki ain't the only one we came here to talk about."

"Excellent point, Anko," Hiruzen agreed, giving the other two an unimpressed look, as if chiding a couple of brats. Well, technically speaking, Anko figured he _was_ older than both of them. "Kakashi, while your opinion should and will be taken into account, Tobirama-sensei is Naruto's assigned tutor. I trust his judgment and experience to take the appropriate measures in training his student, just as I trust you with yours."

Somewhat reluctant, the Hatake bowed deferentially. "My apologies, Lord Hokage."

The village leader easily accepted that with a nod. "In any case, is that all, Tobirama-sensei? Anything else of note?"

"The shadow clone training method has proven fruitful. He has completed the first steps to mastering Water and Wind Style, as well as learned a jutsu of each element along with the Body Flicker Jutsu. That sums up my report."

"That does sound promising," Hiruzen commented before turning to Kakashi and giving him an expectant stare.

The man adjusted himself to a more attentive position in his seat, coughing into his hand. "Sasuke has shown steady progress in all of his skills. Most of the training has been focused on expanding his chakra capacity and diminishing the Sharingan's drain on it. As such, he's been keeping it active while doing a variety of physical exercises in order to increase his strength and stamina. Aside from some sparring and another fire jutsu, nothing else noteworthy happened."

"And the Curse Mark?" the Hokage asked, and Anko perked up at the question, curious to hear.

"Fortunately, he's shown a fairly strong disinclination to using it. He's well aware of Orochimaru's nature; he knows the mark isn't a gift."

There was a barely noticeable sag in the old man's shoulders, the only indication of his relief. "Good. I'm glad to hear that. And finally," Hiruzen glanced her way, "Anko?"

This was her last chance. The only thing she had to do to put permanent distance between herself and the pink-haired girly was put a few lies here and there, give some half-truths to make it convincing, and she'd be free of her conflicted emotions. Easy as pie. Only, she remembered Sakura's eagerness to train, her resolve to improve, and how she managed to exceed expectations when all Anko had expected was for her to fall flat or cop out. She hated how it affected her. That alone oughtta be enough to break off the whole thing.

But, she was a Hidden Leaf ninja; she had a duty to the Hokage and her village. She would not let her emotions get in the way.

"Sakura Haruno has shown greater aptitude than expected. While mediocre at best in the physical aspect, she's very... driven. She works hard, though is obviously not accustomed to an extended workout regimen. Her chakra control is off the charts for her age, and her chakra capacity has the latent potential to grow to above average levels. She possesses the primary affinities for Earth and Fire, with a rather weak secondary one for Lightning.

"Notably, she's ambidextrous and precise with her hands and very skilled in using hand signs. Control-wise, she was able to quickly grasp the needs of the two jutsu I've taught her so far. As it is, her taijutsu is average at best, but she's making improvements."

"Remarkable chakra control and hand-eye coordination, you say? I recall that young Sakura also excelled academically in her class. Have you thought of adding medical jutsu to her repertoire?" Hiruzen asked her.

"It crossed my mind, but I barely know more than first aid myself, Lord Hokage; I couldn't teach her even if I wanted to." She let a small smirk grace her face. "Besides, I don't think _she'd_ want me to. I saw it in her eyes; the girl wants to _fight_. Frankly speaking, she..."

Closing her eyes, she took a quick breath through her nose and steeled herself to give what was sure to be the final nail in her coffin.

"She has the potential for combat."

"All ninja should have skill in combat. Otherwise, it'd be ridiculous to send them out and risk their lives, 'cuz it wouldn't be a risk at all but a certainty."

"You know what I meant, Hatake."

The old man sent her a knowing smile, gentle and holding the traces of a smirk at the edges. The kunoichi didn't have it in her to be annoyed at him. "Good, good. I thank you all for submitting your report. For all intents and purposes, this arrangement seems to be working out quite nicely. I'm eager to hear more in the future. Now, I believe you and Naruto have a mission to prepare for, Tobirama-sensei."

Taking it for the dismissal it was, the three inclined their heads respectfully and began filtering out. However, just as she was about to walk past the door, Anko stopped. After a few short seconds of contemplating her next course of action, she turned back around, side-stepping Kakashi who'd been right behind her.

"Don't wait for me," she informed him. Obviously curious, he nodded nonetheless and left the room with the click of the door echoing in the back.

"Anko? Is there something you forgot to add in the report?" the village leader inquired.

"Why her?"

The old man blinked. "Beg your pardon?"

"Why Sakura Haruno?" she growled, frustration evident in her tone. Hiruzen, though, could see it wasn't aimed at him specifically. "There's a shitload of good candidates for private tutorship among the Leaf's greenhorns, like Neji Hyuga or Shino Aburame. Hell, even that indolent jackass Shikamaru Nara. So, Lord Hokage, _why_ Sakura Haruno?"

"If I recall, you said she has potential."

"She sure didn't look it at first," she argued. "Mediocre mission performance at best, subpar physical skills, and no special talents outside chakra control, and I don't even wanna talk about her approach to the ninja lifestyle."

"Do you think you would've liked training those other ones you mentioned?" he asked, calm as usual.

"Fuck no," she admitted bluntly. "The Aburame and the Hyuga are more machine than man, and the latter's ten-foot stripper pole in his anus would've gotten real annoying real fast. With the Nara, I probably would've snapped sooner rather than later and cut off his ponytail and burned it in a ritualistic ceremony with the hopes of curing the lazy-assness out of their bloodline."

She then gave her boss a serious look. "But it's not about pleasure, it's about the job. If it was best for the village, I would have sucked it up and done it."

"And I appreciate your dutifulness, but you see, the human factor has to be taken into account when making decisions, Anko. It's not something that can be ignored so easily as many shinobi like to think. Sakura is obviously a preferable candidate to you than the other three, so I gave the clearance when you and Kakashi proposed it."

"Well, I ain't sounding real happy right now, am I?"

"Not because she's incompatible with you, though," he said with a tone of sharp understanding, as if knowing something she didn't. "If that was it, you wouldn't have admitted her aptitude as you did while snubbing the other genin."

Anko resisted the impulse to cast her gaze to the side like a child, unwilling to verbally confess the truth behind that statement. "Nobody could have known the two of us were compatible back then, especially judging by appearances. Objectively, it looked like you assigned one of your best shinobi to teach a run-of-the-mill genin at a time of tension when cultivating talent should take top priority."

"Kakashi appeared plenty sure."

She waved a hand dismissively. "He's her sensei; bias compromises his judgment."

"He hasn't forgotten his duty nor has he abandoned his good sense. If there'd been someone better suited than you, he would've hired them even if they had half your strength," Hiruzen countered before blowing out a puff of smoke. "And besides, Sakura is of less importance than her teammates, so her situation is more flexible than theirs. Had you come into my office today and deemed the arrangement a lost cause, I would have dissolved it then and there. You're well aware of that."

A pointed look was sent her way. "But you didn't. Instead, you argued for her continued training under your care and essentially deemed her a diamond in the rough, even by your lofty standards." Anko definitely _didn't_ shift a bit when his gaze turned more perceptive. "It's almost like you're complaining solely about having met and spent some time with her."

This time, she did look to the side, gritting her teeth in shame and chagrin. Damn, she really was bitching solely about that. And she'd just acted like a spoiled little brat in front _her_ _boss,_ for whom she had the utmost respect. What the fuck was wrong with her? What was this kid doing to her?

More importantly, why was she letting it happen? She had thicker skin than this. She'd handled way worse than instructing some little girl who was similar to her in all the most unsettling ways.

A sigh brought her attention back to the Hokage. "I see the past still bothers you, Anko." He ignored her posture stiffening. "Child, you need to let it go. It's been ten years already. You're far from the first to make a costly mistake, and you certainly aren't the last."

She merely grunted, not admitting anything. She had no desire to talk about _that_ particular issue, not with Private Bubblegum already unwittingly inducing some unpleasant flashbacks.

"You still didn't answer my question, Lord Hokage. Why did you agree to appoint me as Sakura's tutor?"

He tapped his fingers against the table rhythmically, taking a few moments to formulate the best response. "When you and Kakashi came to me with the proposal, I admit to having doubts. However much I didn't want to leave Sakura Haruno unattended, assigning one of my best jonin to take over her training duties was questionable, at the very least. But I trusted Kakashi's intuition and for him to weigh the village's needs with the needs of his students, so I simply figured I would give you a limited time window to appraise Sakura and determine if training her would be in the Hidden Leaf's best interest."

Something clicked in Anko's mind. "Is that why you asked us to submit our reports today? To see whether my arrangement with her is successful or not?"

"It's the central reason, yes. Naruto and Sasuke's assessments were also given for their own sake, since their circumstances aren't quite as subject to change as Sakura's. Tobirama-sensei is Naruto's family, and Kakashi is the only one who can help Sasuke with the Sharingan." A contemplative silence enveloped the room for a moment. "But there's more to it than that."

Anko couldn't help leaning forward slightly, interested to hear his answer. "What is it, Lord Hokage?"

His visage adopted smile that she'd best describe as nostalgic.

"I thought that, maybe, these three youngsters could be the Hidden Leaf's new Sannin."

For an instant, the purple-haired woman was stumped. She'd prepared herself for some factor that had gone over her head but not the Hokage's, but this possibility had never crossed her mind, not even fleetingly. Kinda hard to imagine that scenario with Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, the dumbass and the prissy bookworm being part of the team.

 _New Sannin_. Thinking about the term made her mind wander to the original Sannin, the three most powerful Leaf shinobi of their time... and grimaced.

"You see, these three have formed quite the team, with Naruto and Sasuke standing out in particular. If she is to catch up and keep pace with those two, she needs a powerful teacher; who better than Anko Mitarashi? Having confirmed yourself just how compatible you two appear to be," he chuckled lightly "well, then, I suppose the job is _officially_ yours now."

The way he said it, the whole idea, it sounded like it should've been uplifting, designed to raise spirits and cast a ray of hope for an uncertain future.

The grimace didn't leave Anko's face.

Composing herself, she cooly stared at her leader. "Lord Hokage, while that sounds great on the surface, is using those three as a basis really a good idea? Orochimaru alone is a fuckin' disaster, but the other two... well, they ain't exactly role models either. Lady Tsunade turned her back on the village and shirks her shinobi duties 'cuz she pussy-footed about her issues, as if she's got the monopoly on emotional trauma, and Master Jiraiya, while loyal and more than capable, is a widely known _super_ -pervert with equally well-known 'research' methods."

Not that she didn't like his novels, mind you, but that was neither here nor there in this discussion.

"Miss Mitarashi, you are aware these are my ex-students you're deriding, right?" the old man asked, firm in his tone and gaze.

"Yes," she responded immediately, raising an eyebrow.

Their staring contest - which Anko was adamant not to lose - lasted a little while before a bitter but not entirely humorless chuckle was ripped out of the Hokage's throat, a smile of a similar nature overcoming his features as well.

A slight twinge of guilt pulled at her heart, hating at having to remind the veteran shinobi of his old team and the way it collapsed, but she was quick to stomp on it ruthlessly. It was as it was, no sense in denying the truth; only repercussions if they decided to act on that denial.

"You must think me a sentimental, old fool, and you probably wouldn't be far from the truth," Hiruzen said, his chuckles dying down. "To be honest, I feel as if most of my mistakes in the recent years have been of that particular nature of mine. I'd go as far as to say I share responsibility for Naruto's current 'problem', as sensei put it."

The Hokage took his hat off and placed it on the table, staring at it with calm detachment. "Naruto was a boy, alone in a cruel world and soon about to join an institution that would prepare him for an even harsher one... but I didn't want him to think like that. I wanted him to be happy and have something to look forward to. So, I told him most about the bright sides of the shinobi life, about the heroes throughout the Leaf's history, and none of the darkness.

"But it's not just him, I'm afraid. Danzo, Orochimaru, the Hidden Cloud, and more. And now, it feels as if all those mistakes are now coming back to bite me. This is why I agreed to finally lay my reign to rest; young blood needs to take this hat off my hands."

Anko wasn't sure if Tsunade could be classified as 'young blood', though was smart enough not to mention it now. She was skeptical about the decision to put the Senju princess in charge, of course, but the choice had been made. Still, seeing the old man right now, open with his self-deprecation and grief over past decisions really brought home the fact that even the strongest and wisest of ninja made regrettable mistakes and had failed several times in their lives.

She didn't think any less of him for it, and she definitely didn't judge him for his errors. She'd made plenty of her own in a life that was only a third the length of his.

However, she wasn't blind to the fact that not everyone thought along those lines. She could understand why, though. The fate of everybody in the Hidden Leaf Village rested in his hands, and therefore, his mistakes were their mistakes.

But, expecting a human being not to make mistakes was like expecting shinobi to stop killing.

"Lord Hokage, I don't know the exact relationship between you and the kid, so perhaps I shouldn't assume," she began, garnering his attention. "But, I'm not gonna lie and say I agree with the choice you made. I don't. But... I trust your wisdom nonetheless, and I will continue Sakura Haruno's training, despite my reservations, because appointing me was the right choice."

The way his eyes lightened and shoulders sagged with relief, only noticeable to the trained eye, made her feel distinctly _proud_ at having evoked such a reaction from him. A grown, self-dependent woman she was, but this man was her boss and a symbol, who had offered no little comfort to the protege of his protege when Orochimaru betrayed the village and both his master and student.

"I really _have_ gotten old, relying on striplings like yourself to bring me out of my funks, though I suppose I shouldn't complain about pretty young women bringing comfort and joy to my life." A chuckle, much lighter than before, came from him. A good-humored scoff was her response. "Thank you, my dear."

Seeing she'd gotten all her answers, she turned and made her way to the door.

"No problem, Sir."

* * *

Naruto couldn't help but smirk in triumph when he saw Pervy Sage approaching the village gate.

They were due to leave for their mission today to find this Tsunade chick and appoint her the title of Hokage. The blond was confused about the idea of giving the title to someone who hadn't been in the village for quite a while from what he'd deduced, but _eh._ A B-rank mission was going to be added to his record so he had little to complain about.

Either way, the old pervert had bet him he wouldn't complete his chakra exercise by the time they had to leave, and, boy, was he gonna love seeing Pervy Sage's dumbass expression when he proved him wrong soon enough. Sure, he had to use two hands to do it, but the result was the same, and that was all that mattered.

But there was something that mattered even more:

 _Never_ underestimate Naruto Uzumaki, ya know!

Even better, he'd completed the task last night without his grandfather's supervision, so he was in for the same surprise, too. Grandpa Tobirama had been especially meticulous in his chakra control training this last week, and he was sure the former kage would be proud to see just how much he improved.

Naruto well understood that chakra control was merely molding and bending one's chakra in order to achieve a wanted result.

Because of that, the Second Hokage pointed out that the first stages of Water and Wind Style training had had a secondary purpose beyond just teaching him to bend those two elements; they were also a chakra control exercise. Since transforming his chakra into a natural element was just another form of shaping the energy in order to attain a certain result, they benefitted his general ability to mold chakra.

In other words, any method of increasing his chakra-bending skills, including ones for a specific jutsu or field, would attribute to his overall control, however marginally. It was a process Grandpa Tobirama called 'getting familiar with one's chakra'. Simply practicing jutsu over and over again would produce the same results.

Thankfully, his great-grandfather had explained to him that, apart from chakra control not always being relative to chakra capacity (using Hashirama Senju as proof of that), as he expanded his repertoire, through constant practice and experience he would be able to boost and maintain, at the very least, a solid level of chakra control while building up his reserves at the same time. Not to mention that he could always set aside a number of clones to do chakra control exercises when training.

His good mood took a sudden dive when he noticed the old man Hokage walking alongside the sage, no doubt to bid them good luck on their mission.

Ever since their talk over a week ago, Naruto felt a distinct lurch in his insides whenever he thought of Hiruzen Sarutobi. Uncomfortable and foreign, Naruto'd been confused about its origins at the start. It hadn't taken him long, however, to come to the damningly simple conclusion.

He felt betrayed.

The old man had made the decision to keep his heritage a secret from him; denied him knowledge that was rightfully his to know. More painful, though, was the fact the old man hadn't trusted him to stay quiet should he have been told of it. He'd prioritized the Hidden Leaf's security over the blond's emotional state.

Logically, he knew that was just him doing his job as Hokage. Any shinobi to take the mantle would have to adopt the mindset of putting the village above the individual, the way a good leader should. He knew that, too. He aspired to be that person, after all, and Grandpa Tobirama had more than once lectured him on the demands of the Hokage position.

And yet, it didn't make it feel any less wrong; didn't make it feel any less like _he_ had been wronged. He'd suffered and _hurt_ and there was nothing to show whether his ignorance had played a role in ensuring the village's future. Only mistrust and unease at the possibility of having to make the same choices should he ascend to the rank.

Had it hurt the old man, knowing their bond could fracture and split if and when the blond found out he'd kept all these secrets from him? Did their relationship have a big enough place in his heart that the inevitable possibility of its demise had caused him rows of sleepless nights? Naruto didn't know whether it was base selfishness or cathartic sadism that made him hope the answer was 'yes'.

The Hokage, one of the few people that ever showed him genuine care, put the village before him. Did Naruto blame him for it?

He hated the way his mind hesitated for a few long seconds before answering with a reluctant 'no'.

Did Naruto blame him for not deeming the boy trustworthy enough to be told the truth? For not taking the risk of endangering the Leaf and a child's life for the sake of that same child's comfort?

There was almost no hesitation when his mind responded with a whispered, strong 'yes'.

 _Don't think you're all that special in that regard_ , Pervy Sage's voice rose from the depths of his conscience, as if mocking his thoughts. His jaw muscles tightened in frustration.

His great-grandfather uncrossed his arms and pushed off the gate he'd been leaning against next to him. He gave the Uzumaki a quick, considering glance before looking toward the two approaching men. He'd obviously noticed his grandson's expression. Hell, he'd probably figured out its source - analytical genius he was - and that was a whole new conundrum in and of itself.

What did Grandpa Tobirama think? He'd defended Hiruzen's actions and practically preached about the idea of necessary evils, but the two Hokages seemed as different as night and day. Even their similarities shared fundamental differences, such as the old man's more affable sense of calmness as opposed to his grandfather's aloof one.

Sometimes, it felt like the jinchuriki expected the same things from the two due to the fact they both shared the title of Hokage and fell into the family category. At other times, however, he looked and saw the clear contrast between them, like black and white. The unsympathetic firmness that unnerved him should it have come from Sarutobi did not evoke the same reaction when it came from Tobirama; he expected no different from his zombified ancestor and was pretty much used to it by now.

He wondered if it was hypocritical of him to have these conflicting emotions toward two family members exhibiting the same personality trait, feeling anxious and upset with Sarutobi and feeling little, if any discomfort every time Tobirama decided to be Hokage first, family second with Naruto.

It was all so confusing, as if all the simple answers had been wiped out from this world with the snap of a finger, just like that.

Frankly, he was afraid to be far from equipped to deal with it.

"I see you're both here," the Third Hokage said. "Good. For security's sake, I'll go over the mission one last time. Find Tsunade, and bring her back. Since I myself have given the order, don't expect a struggle on her part. She knows the consequences should she defy the order."

Naruto sent a questioning glance to his grandfather, silently inquiring.

"It means she'll be labeled a criminal and hunted down," Tobirama supplied dispassionately.

The boy froze, dread coiling in his gut. He might've never met the lady, but she was family all the same, and he did _not_ want the chance of getting to know even more of it slip through his fingers. He imagined that Grandpa Tobirama, who'd actually known her, was even less enthused.

"Isn't that a little, ya know, extreme?" he asked aloud, directing the question to everybody present.

"Normally, going against an order would simply see a shinobi going through disciplinary measures and a punishment corresponding to the severity of insubordination," the former kage explained. "However, leaving the village with no intention of returning is a different story."

Jiraiya picked up from there, "Tsunade left it with the Hokage's blessing under the pretense of it being an extended sabbatical. In other words, she got a free pass, but with the understanding that if the old man were ever to slap her with an order to come back, she either returns or," the slight grimace on the sage's face more than indicated his unease at the idea, "is to be given the same courtesy as every other rogue ninja."

To be tracked down and killed. Naruto's mind went to Haku, how he'd pretended to be a tracker ninja in order to take Zabuza from right under Team 7's nose. Sakura's explanation on what tracker ninja did and _why_ they did it rang in his head. To protect village secrets, shinobi who abandoned their village became labeled as criminals to be hunted down and killed like game in the wild, their heads taken back as confirmation while their bodies were erased from existence as extra insurance.

Naruto couldn't imagine such a fate for himself, that _nothing_ of him remained in this world after his death, almost as if he'd never existed in the first place. It was completely, unequivocally unacceptable.

The Uzumaki suddenly felt rather... confined. Restricted. Though he wouldn't say he had any particularly strong feelings of wanderlust, to know he was so tightly bound to the village in such a way disturbed him and when all he had wanted in his life was for that notion to be true.

It was so confusing. No simple answers.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Naruto." The old man's words snapped him out of his thoughts, and he noticed the three veterans looking at him with probing gazes. He did his best not to shift in embarrassment. "I believe Tsunade is still loyal to the Hidden Leaf Village, and she'll most certainly do her best to avoid the trouble of being a highly sought-after criminal. There really is no cause for concern."

"Yeah. The biggest obstacle will be convincing her to step up and take the hat, and trust me, it'll be a long shot," Pervy Sage supplied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto found it hard to understand anyone refusing to accept the Hokage position when it was so readily being handed over on a silver platter, basically like an award for Best Ninja in the Hidden Leaf. Why the hell would anyone refuse such an acknowledgment?

"Later, kid." The Toad Sage turned towards the road. "C'mon, time to get a move on. I've got a few leads on her possible whereabouts."

His two companions nodded, but before they could sojourn, Tobirama put his hands into the ram sign and said, "Transform!"

With a puff of smoke, in his place stood a man with identical facial features but with black hair and eyes, a standard Hidden Leaf uniform and without the signature red lines on his face.

Naruto stared at him with confusion before figuring that it wouldn't be the best idea for people to see a legendary shinobi who'd reportedly died almost 50 years ago just casually strolling around. He nodded his in understanding and faced the village gates.

"I wish all three of you good luck on your mission, especially you, Naruto. Consider this an important learning experience," the Third Hokage said, smiling, but Naruto couldn't muster the willpower to insincerely return it, averting his eyes instead, unable to look at the grandfatherly expression on the man's face.

It had always been a source of comfort in the past. But now, with their relationship as it were, he felt that if he were to try and forcefully dredge up that same emotion, it would only make things worse and mar one of the few good memories of his childhood. However childish, he just didn't feel like trying to cope with it at the moment.

Glancing at the old man one last time, he saw that his smile had dimmed considerably, taking on a wistful tone. He quickly turned his gaze back toward the road, attempting to ignore the stab of guilt. Everything would work itself out, he was sure of it.

It sounded weak even to his optimistic self.

The restlessness abated slowly as more distance was put between the traveling party and the village gate, the familiar sounds of the surrounding wilderness lulling his mind into a half-calm state of being. It hadn't been all that long since he'd last left the confines of the Leaf, but the rush and stress of getting to Sasuke on time had kept him from appreciating the scenery.

Still, stray thoughts of Hiruzen Sarutobi filtered into his brain, and his mind appeared set on going against his wishes and pondering the issue. He really wasn't in the mood for that right now. He realized he hadn't done the best job of concealing his emotions when his grandfather asked the following question.

"Is everything alright, Naruto? You seem troubled."

Glancing up at his dark eyes, the young ninja tried to come up with an adequate answer. Tobirama was probably aware of his current dilemma; this was just an indirect way of spurring him to talk about it.

But Naruto didn't want to talk about it. What he wanted was for all his troubles to be bottled up into a neat, little package and thrown into the deepest, darkest ravine around, never to see the light of day again. But he knew it didn't work like that. So, remembering one of Kakashi's lessons on how the most convincing lies were based on truth, he attempted for a diversion.

"I-I was just wondering: If the old man had... died fighting against Orochimaru, before Tsunade took the seat, who would've led the village?"

There, that oughtta be good enough. It was actually something that had crossed his mind a few times this past week. The invasion had brought home the fact that mortality was a trait shared by everyone, impartial to wisdom or power. The Third Hokage had both and had damn-near been killed. Without him, Naruto had no idea how the village would've kept on going.

Tobirama examined him for a moment, knowing he was avoiding the topic, but quickly decided to humor his grandson anyway. Besides, it was a good question he asked. "In the event that the Hokage has died or is otherwise indisposed, without having chosen a successor, the Emergency Council would take over the duty. It consists of the Hokage's topmost advisers, a veteran member of the ANBU Black Ops, and the jonin commander. The next Hokage would then be chosen by that same council along with the Land of Fire's feudal lord, who would act as arbiter.

"However, this is only a temporary measure. This candidate will officially be instated only if he received a minimum two-thirds majority vote of approval from the village's jonin force."

After a nod of understanding, Naruto created a shadow clone and had it walk in front of him. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a notebook and writing utensils. He placed the open notebook against the clone's back and started writing down his most recent lesson.

The Second Hokage smirked in smug amusement. Out of all his ideas in training the blond, this was easily one of his better ones. Naruto simply didn't yet have the discipline to learn via reading educational literature, however vital the skill. So, Tobirama found a middle ground and had the boy himself write down what his grandfather taught him. In an effort to expand his vocabulary, he also had another notebook in which he recorded words he didn't understand.

That way, Naruto wouldn't have to try and remember any 'useless' information, and since he himself was the one doing the writing, any information he did record would be understandable to him. Although Tobirama made sure they at least had a semblance of elegant structure.

Every few days, the kage would test him. Thus far, he had failed only the first time, for which the punishment had been no ramen for the next five days and chores after training. Ridiculous as it sounded, there was no doubt regarding its efficiency; Naruto passed with flying colors both of the other times before their current mission.

"What does "arbiter" mean?" the Uzumaki asked, pulling out his other notebook.

"Someone who has the power to decide matters; a judge."

Naruto quickly scribbled down the newfound data, and Tobirama was very pleased in seeing his idea bear fruit. Granted, he'd learned long ago that not only did a student have to adapt to his master's methods, but the vice versa was just as important. No two people were the same, so no two people learned equally well through the same means. Therefore, trying to train Naruto the same way he'd trained Hiruzen and his team was foolish, their differences more than clear.

A confused expression suddenly overcame the genin's visage as rubbed the non-business end of the pencil against his scalp. "Hey, Grandpa. You said that the Hidden Leaf was formed by the Senju and Uchiha clan signing a peace treaty between them, and after that, the other Land of Fire ninja clans joined, too, right?"

"Correct."

"So, why have just one leader? Wouldn't a council consisting of clan heads be better? If I was a clan head about to join a newly-constructed village, I'd want a say in how it's run."

That... was another unexpectedly good question. He felt bad for it, but perhaps he was underestimating his descendant just a bit too much. Still, in this particular case, he was glad, even proud that his assessment wasn't entirely accurate.

"The first thing you must understand, Naruto, is what follows war is not true peace, but a time of tension," Tobirama began.

The blond's brow furrowed in bewilderment, failing to comprehend the meaning. "Huh? But if the warring factions stopped fighting, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Just because the fighting has stopped doesn't erase the fact that these factions used to be enemies who'd spilled each other's blood. Trust is earned, Naruto; pain and old grudges don't simply evaporate into nothingness with a wave of the hand," the Senju explained.

"Yeah, and the post-war aftermath can be as bad as the war itself." Jiraiya joined the discussion, adding his two cents. "Take it from a guy who's fought in two of 'em, and experienced the effects of one."

He ran a hand along his scalp. "Being constantly on your guard, unwilling to delude yourself into believing that peace would last, but was just the calm before the next storm. That feeling of... of _just waiting_ can be a mindfuck worse than the chaos of the battlefield. At least the frenzy of the whole thing can dull your senses from experiencing the full brunt of it, as bloody terrible as it might seem from the outside perspective."

Naruto's disquietude at the notion was obvious, and he opened his mouth several times to speak but failed to find any words. Eventually, he set his mouth in a firm line, a grim look overtaking his features. Tobirama sympathized, but he wanted Naruto to hear the rest anyway, and his question had yet to be answered.

"For the shinobi of my time, peace was a figment of the imagination, a theoretical state of existence at best," the Second Hokage continued. "We had periods of rest on occasion, but we always knew the next fight was on its way. When the other clans heard that the two most powerful shinobi families had banded together and formed a new organization, they joined in order to avoid getting on our bad side. The Village Hidden in the Leaves intimidated them."

A thick silence permeated the air for a moment to allow the words to sink in before Tobirama resumed.

"Fear compelled them to join, not a fleeting hope for the future. We didn't push them, but we created the circumstances that did it for us. No one likes to be bullied; proud warrior families absolutely hate it. Mistrust was there due to the mere fact we are shinobi, and bitter rivalries had already been present between certain clans who'd clashed repeatedly in the past. The Leaf's nascent stages saw a very tentative, very fragile peace sweep over the shinobi."

A scowl marred Naruto's face. "So, what was the whole point of it then, if you were just waiting for the other guy to blow up first? Why was it so hard for you to just shake hands and bury the hatchet already? One would think you'd get sick and tired of all the death and fighting."

"Oh, yeah?" Jiraiya inquired with a sharp grin. "Tell me, even though you call Sasuke a friend, can you really say you actually like him?"

"Uhm," the jinchuriki was caught flatfooted for a second before composing himself. "The fuck's that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question."

"I... well, I _like_ being his friend, but the guy's a douche. Makes it kinda easy to want to punch his lights out every now and then."

"And when the village was first built, half the people sharing your living space used to be enemies that killed your comrades and made attempts at your own life, while the other half were an untrustworthy lot by their very nature," Tobirama said firmly. "Establishing order alone can be a herculean effort, let alone maintaining it, and the aforementioned conditions did not work in our favor.

"However, one thing was certain: To keep everyone in line, the village needed a firm hand of a chieftain, not a squabbling mess of a council. The people were simply too disparate for anything else to work."

A contemplative expression crossed the boy's face. Everything his masters just said contradicted what he'd been taught and told happened when one made allies of enemies and went _way_ against what he believed. He'd always imagined enmities to be like a switch; turned on when fighting against one another, and then turned off after reaching an agreement, with nothing in between.

However, he had no choice but to put his viewpoint into question when two war veterans expressed differing opinions. To them, it was more than a belief; it was fact, born from repeated experience. As a relatively fresh genin, he found it impossible to argue his case.

With a sigh, he again opened his notebook and started writing down the latest nugget of knowledge before he forgot anything. Unsettling or not, it was valuable information.

"Grandpa, you used a word right before "stages", nascient or somethin' or other, right? What's it mean?" he asked, grabbing his other notebook.

"Nascent, yes." Taking the pencil from Naruto's hand, Tobirama wrote down the word for him. "It means when something is in its earliest stages."

Nodding, he finished with his scribbling, though didn't yet pocket his supplies. They might still come in handy. "So, that's why we got a Hokage, huh? The First Hokage sure had his hands full if he had _that_ shitstorm to deal with."

"Language," Tobirama reprimanded halfheartedly. "But yes, he did, but not on his own. A competent commander and charismatic leader, but also over-indulgent, not the best at long-term planning, and his sense of organization could've been better. Often enough, Madara and I had to keep _him_ in check as well and provide the necessary cold logic and fortitude he sometimes failed to display. Nevertheless, his sheer power earned him respect from the clans if nothing else."

"And this clan council thing really never came up?"

"I never said that," the kage replied. "There _had_ been a committee of the Hidden Leaf clans back in its early days. It was short-lived, however. As I mentioned before, fear and self-interest are what had driven them to congregate in one village. The clan heads had little to no interest in the Leaf's future, so little to no progress was made. Most of them were not-unreasonably skeptical of its stability, thus they hoped to reap as many rewards in what they believed was the short time they had available. Needless to say, it wasn't long after its erection that Hashirama disbanded the committee."

Jiraiya's snickers echoed his exact feelings somewhat. "It must've rankled them something bad, having their voice in village politics silenced like that."

"Surprisingly, the majority of them didn't put up much of a fight. Most likely because not only had that mockery of a council had little success for the Leaf's benefit, it had even less for any individual clan. Those meetings had become a pointless chore more than anything, so most were probably happy that it'd come to an end."

"Yeah, though I imagine most of the Hokage's meetings are like that. I don't think I'll ever understand how you people handle it," the Toad Sage said semi-seriously. "Still, that begs the question of when and how the Emergency Council came to being."

"I founded it, shortly after my brother's death," Tobirama answered him. "I wasn't there when he died, and I only found out he elected me as the next Hokage via a messenger that could've lost his life at any time in the war zone. Hoping to prevent any hectic disputes on the succession of leadership should I or any future Hokage have died without choosing a successor, the idea for the council came to mind."

"But wouldn't just cause the same problem as the clan committee did?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Not necessarily," Jiraiya responded, a hand on his chin. "Since the council members don't serve as clan representatives but upstanding members of the military and are expected to bring the expertise attained from their rank to the table, the chances of favoritism are whittled down considerably-theoretically, at least. Plus, it's fully possible, though unlikely, that a member wouldn't be of any shinobi clan, but of civilian heritage."

"And besides, it is called the Emergency Council for a reason. Only under extraordinary circumstances would it come to effect. At all other times, the Hokage has his advisors to assist him." It also appeased the feudal lord to know he was being included in the running of the village, though Tobirama didn't feel the need to mention that.

He was proud to see his grandson open his notebook again after a minute of contemplation. It was good that the action was steadily becoming habitual. Since this was a particular point of interest for Naruto, he surmised that tidbit also had a hand in this scenario.

Getting the boy's mind off of Saru was a boon, too.

The sannin sighed in a mixture of exasperation and longing. "If only there was a jutsu that could tell you all the right answers, bratty as it might sound." He suddenly perked up when a thought struck him. "Speaking of which, kid, how much luck have you had with that exercise I showed you?"

An impish grin suddenly split Naruto's face, causing the sage to raise a skeptical eyebrow. He was hard-pressed to believe the little knucklehead had got it down already, considering the amount of effort he'd gone through just to summon your average-sized toad.

Either he failed, or the Second Hokage was a miracle worker.

The blond opened his backpack and pulled out a water balloon in a second, almost like he'd prepared it for this exact purpose. With a confident hum, Naruto held out the object in front of him. However, Jiraiya also saw him cocking his other arm back as if he was about to take a swipe at the thing. Imagine his surprise when the kid did just that, but instead of clawing it open, moved it in a swift rotating motion. Swiping at it like that several times in quick succession, the surface began bubbling and promptly burst open after a few seconds, spilling water on his palm.

Holding a piece of shredded rubber up between his right index finger and thumb, a brazen smirk was sent his way. "How's that, Pervy Sage?"

Whistling in pleasant surprise, he took the piece of the balloon in his hand. "Color me impressed, you did it. Maybe you're not a talentless little shit, after all."

"Hey!"

"Though a little humility wouldn't hurt, cutting your victory dance short would be a dick move on my part. Either way, well done." Naruto hadn't done it one-hundred-percent properly, but he'd gotten the wanted result, and that was good enough.

"Took me a while to realize I had to rotate the water in a whole lot of directions. I tried to do it with one hand, but it was like trying to look right and left at the same time, so I figured... why not two?" he elaborated proudly.

"While I commend you for finding an alternate way of accomplishing your task, it also shows your chakra control needs more work," Tobirama interjected. "This was an exercise, not a test, and a properly performed exercise is always most beneficial."

Sheesh, cut the kid a break, and just as he was being nice to the brat. The Toad Sage wondered if the guy had always been this big mountain of uptight. True, it hadn't been perfect, and the Senju had thrown in a compliment at the beginning, but it was impressive work nonetheless, especially taking into account how long it'd taken Minato to come up with it.

Seeing Naruto's mildly dejected expression, Jiraiya spoke before the blond began caterwauling, "There's no need. I think it's time I show you two why I had Naruto do the balloon thing." Taking a step back, he held his right hand out. "In essence, it is both a test and an exercise. It's the latter in the sense that it does build up your chakra control, since it demands a very refined manipulation of chakra to execute."

Blue energy started pooling in his hand, slowly forming a roughly circular shape. "And it's a test in the sense that it's merely the first of three steps one needs to complete in order to perform a jutsu that has a few... prerequisites."

Just as he finished his explanation, the chakra took the form of a heavily condensed ball of whirling energy. Seeing his captivated crowd, the kid more open about it than the walking pile of ash, he held it further up with a small grin.

"Voila! Gentlemen, this is the Rasengan, an original jutsu of the Fourth Hokage."

The blond's eyes shone with the power of a star; he reminded Jiraiya of a starved dog who'd just been offered a treat. "Dad made that?"

"You betcha, and it only took him three whole fucking years, too. Damn-near gave up more than once, but if there was one thing your old man had more than brains, it was a healthy combination of spunk and patience," he finished, letting the technique disperse into nothingness.

The exhilaration in Naruto's eyes dulled in a matter of seconds, dumbfounded horror etching itself onto his features. Yeah, he'd pretty much predicted this to be his reaction. The brat probably thought that it'd take him three years to learn the Rasengan, and, having proved more than once that he was no saint when it came to the idea of patience, was no doubt convinced that the 'super-cool' jutsu he just saw was out of his grasp.

"What!? You serious? I can't spend that much time learning _one jutsu_! I'd rather spend three years learning ten shitty, garden-variety ones. In fact, I can probably learn half a hundred, ya know."

Figuring he'd had his share of fun for one day, the sage held up a hand to halt the genin's tirade. "Hold your horses, squirt. Nobody said it'll take ya three years to get the Rasengan down. You'll find that learning jutsu tends to be way easier than creating them. That's why Minato divided the learning process into three steps, so short-fused brats like yourself-"

"Oi!"

"-would have a shot at being able to do it." He let out a chuckle. "It's almost providence when you come to think of it, like he knew his son would be this impatient, little ramen junkie with the attention span of a hummingbird."

"You're a riot, Pervy Sage," Naruto deadpanned with an annoyed look. "Taking potshots at kids probably gets you off like nothin' else, except being a fucking _perv_."

"And you like taking potshots at me back. The least you could do is be a bit more original," Jiraiya retorted with good humor. Still, he couldn't help but like the tyke, him and his witty commentary. "Anyway, all I was sayin' is that the Rasengan is his legacy to you; an heirloom. And Minato was a pretty practical person. If he'd want you to inherit anything from him, it'd be a means of helping yourself."

Looking at it like that, Naruto supposed that old goat was right. Ever since the invasion, most of what he'd received from his family had been from Grandpa Tobirama; tutelage, attention, a _home_ , you name it. But, as a ninja, an awesome jutsu was pretty high up on the list of cool gifts, and it came from his dad; not directly, but he counted it anyway. It warmed him inside, knowing that his old man managed to find a way to look out for him even in death.

A surge of affection and gratefulness also went out to Pervy Sage, who was the one passing down the gift and making it look like such. However much they might argue, there was never any true bitterness or animosity to it. It was simply a facet of their bonding method, and it worked well enough for them.

Just as he was about to express his first sincere thanks to Jiraiya, Tobirama interjected, "Mr. Jiraiya, can you please show us the Rasengan again, but while forming it as swiftly as possible?"

The sage and his student exchanged a bewildered glance, but the former was quick to shrug, seeing no issue with it. Sticking his hand out, palm up, the jutsu came to life within the rage of a second.

The Second Hokage studied it intently before looking at him with that same gaze, making him want to fidget. "I assume Minato could do it even faster."

"Ugh, yeah, he sure could. Instantaneously, in fact. That kid sure loved his speed."

Tobirama nodded. "I see." He shifted his sights to his descendant. "Naruto, create four shadow clones; you'll be finishing the first step to the Rasengan _properly_."

Wide-eyed, Naruto stared at him dumbfoundedly. "Why? I popped the balloon!"

Jiraiya's mind clicked then. "So you wouldn't have to lose any speed in forming it. I get it. Should've thought of that, I guess." He gave the kid an apologetic glance. "Don't get me wrong, it's clever what you did, but it's not like the enemy will stand still if you give them the time. Speed and unpredictability are a shinobi's best weapons."

"It'll also be good practice for your chakra control, now stop complaining," Tobirama ordered firmly. "The sooner you get it done, the sooner you move on to the next step, and the sooner you'll learn the Rasengan."

After shifting his gaze between his two teachers, Naruto groaned in resignation and did a cross sign. "Fine." In a burst of smoke, four copies of himself appeared. Thanks to his continuous use of the jutsu, he found out two days ago that could non-verbally summon shadow clones. If nothing else, it was proof of his growing chakra control.

From his backpack, he pulled out five balloon pieces from the pack he'd stashed there this morning. Opening it, and through another bout of concentration and careful chakra molding, he spewed out a light torrent of water into it and wrapped it closed. His clones went through the same motions.

Just staring at it made him feel a well of frustration rising, but he prepared himself for several hours of boredom hell anyway.

* * *

Looking up from his book, Kakashi stared up at the Sun. It was about one-thirty in the afternoon.

Hmm, didn't he have to be somewhere right now?

... Oh, that was right! He'd agreed to meet up with Asuma and Kurenai at Anko's favorite dango shop.

That appointment had been for one o'clock.

Well, being only forty to fifty minutes would be pretty early by his standards, and he didn't really feel like getting up from his seat. Besides, those two could do with some alone time. Things had been pretty hectic as of late; quality time would do them good. The funny part was they _still_ thought they were being subtle in their affair.

Noobs.

Nevertheless, he should come up with an excuse either way, for consistency's sake. He cast a glance at Sasuke, who was doing push-ups while Kakashi's feet rested on his back. Rivulets of sweat trickling down his brow, the kid was obviously doing his best not to grimace. The Hatake wouldn't blame him if he did. The climate was mildly warm at best, but it was different when the sun was beating directly down on your back.

He should have brought a fan for himself. Sasuke's baleful glares would've been entertaining.

A proverbial light bulb turned on in his head. Kakashi could just tell the two lovebirds that his student _really_ wanted to train with his favorite sensei today and had even _pouted_ , of all things, to get his way. The sight had been _so cute_ , it'd simply been impossible for him to resist. Like with all his excuses, it would fool nobody.

Looking down at his student's dark features, he realized, in fact, this excuse could be his best one yet! The thought almost made him chuckle.

With a relaxed smile, he stared out at the Third Training Ground. The babbling brook, the birds chirping, and the lush green against the bright, blue sky were a balm on his soul, soothing in their natural rhythm, even though his instincts never fully allowed him to drop his guard.

"It's a really beautiful scenery we have, isn't it, Sasuke?" he said conversationally. "If only my footrest didn't move so much."

"Go-to-hell," the Uchiha growled through panting breaths, glowering up at him with a burning glare worth ten of his fireball jutsus.

Hey, he did get entertainment! With an eye-smile, he went back to his book. He was relaxing, Sasuke was getting the training he wanted, while Asuma and Kurenai were getting the alone time they needed.

Everybody was happy.

* * *

If she made it out of this alive, Kurenai was going to kill Kakashi Hatake.

Boldly, she returned Itachi Uchiha's gaze, who was standing right behind her. The odds were not in her and Asuma's favor. The traitor might be a decade her junior, but she'd never seen anyone fight quite like him. Even Kisame Hoshigaki, Scourge of the Mist, seemed to follow his lead.

He was dangerous; very, very dangerous, and possibly out of her league.

They needed to retreat and regroup. If they stayed, Itachi would kill Kurenai and then Asuma would be at the mercy of two S-rank rogues.

"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a huge pillar of water rise out of the river and take the form of a shark's head. The liquid mass then circled around its blue-skinned caster like a loyal labrador before charging at her secret-not so secret boyfriend. Fortunately, he dodged by jumping upwards and away from the path.

She quickly realized he was falling in her direction, or more accurately, right behind her. A shock of relief swept through her as the Uchiha clansman jumped back to avoid a slice from Asuma's trench knives. Had this been the right time, she would've expressed her joy gratitude at his intervention with a kiss on the cheek. As it was, however, she kept her eyes on the former Mist ninja now that Asuma had her back.

She elected to ignore the blood staining the river red, falling in drops from her boyfriend's left shoulder. She couldn't lose focus now.

"These guys are tough. You think we should switch opponents?" he grunted.

The genjutsu expert considered it for a minute before shaking her head. "No. Itachi's genjutsu is too good. You're vulnerable against him, and I can't guarantee that Kisame will fall for my own illusions again." She'd already underestimated the Uchiha genius once and had nearly paid for it with her life. With his Sharingan and speed, Asuma's melee-style combat would do little good.

"So we retreat and find backup?"

"There's no other viable solution. We can't let ourselves get pinned down here; we need to lead them where we want to go. We're lucky a civilian hasn't come across us yet."

The Hokage's son nodded. "Gotcha. On my mark, go for the village center. I'll cover you." She was about to protest his suicidal idea, he continued with more fervor. "I've got a plan, don't worry. I'm not trying to be a hero. What I've got in mind is gonna cause a scene, so, hopefully, someone's going to notice."

Reasoning that simply staying here would cause their death anyway, Kurenai reluctantly dipped her head in acknowledgment. A few short seconds later, Asuma shouted a loud 'go', prompting her to leap in the direction of the Leaf's center. As expected, Kisame made an attempt to follow her, jumping onto the river surface and trailing after her.

However, he was stopped by Asuma flash-stepping between them, who then proceeded to release a large plume of black smoke. Kurenai immediately recognized it as his signature Burning Ash Jutsu, which clued her in on his plan. With a click of his teeth, the powder ignited and an explosion ripped through the air, releasing a shockwave that blew her hair into her face.

The fire and smoke were soon joined by white steam, generated by the intense heat of the technique coming into contact with the water they were standing on. Aside from the shark-man having hopefully gotten caught in the blast, an effective smokescreen blocked their enemy's path.

Turning around to resume her way towards the center, she was caught off guard by a building-tall water wall erupting a few meters before her, covering the whole width of the watercourse. The Sarutobi clansman joined her side as, between them and the smoke, Kisame rose from the depths of the river like a phantom, all the while giving them a sharp-toothed grin.

"Not bad. A simple enough idea, but it would've been effective in most scenarios." His equally monstrous sword in his right hand, he poised it back. Instead of charging them, though, he spun and swung it in an arc around him with such incredible strength, it created a gust of wind strong enough to get rid of most of the steam and smoke, allowing Itachi Uchiha to walk through the feeble remains of their makeshift smokescreen.

Still grinning, he leaned the blade against his shoulder with a confident grace. "But as you can see, we're not your run-of-the-mill rogue ninja. I'm afraid you're out of luck."

These two, they were monsters. Their spot in the bingo book was more than well-earned, and Kurenai felt a distinct shiver of fear go up her spine. She held firm nonetheless, taking out a kunai and preparing herself for battle. If she was going down, it would be by fighting for her own survival. If they held out long enough, there was still a chance backup would arrive in time, what with the explosion.

Her eyes widened in surprise when a blurry figure came at Itachi from the side, who dodged by bending forward. The assailant, whom she quickly recognized as Ranka of the Torture and Interrogation Corps, was assisted by the familiar form of Anko striking with a sweeping kick. The traitor evaded this attack as well by doing a butterfly twist and jumping back.

In a burst of speed, she closed the distance in less than a second, engaging him with a right jab. Moving his head to the side, he grabbed the offending appendage. She quickly pulled her arm back slightly and turned it clockwise a bit, not letting him put it in a lock. She then kicked out with her left knee, aiming high and her feet leaving the surface, which he ducked by dodging.

Using his bent position to her advantage, Anko quickly braced against his back with her unoccupied hand, using it as leverage to free her other one and spring away from him. She landed several meters behind Itachi, who quickly turned to face her. A mistake, since Ranka utilized that opportunity for an attack, striking out with a kunai.

Kurenai watched in morbid fascination as the Uchiha, in a feat of considerable grace and skill, in just two motions grabbed the appendage and coiled it so that the kunai stabbed Ranka hilt-deep through the underside of the jaw.

In another smooth motion, he tossed the body through the air at a charging Anko. With envious finesse of her own, she spun underneath her comrade's corpse - she couldn't think about that now - without losing any momentum and lashed out with a kick. He dodged and kicked back, which was evaded by bending backward in a full bridge, releasing chakra from her hands to make a solid surface. Itachi had to move his head to the side again when Anko's legs snapped into the air as she backflipped back onto her feet.

If this hadn't been such a serious situation, Kurenai would've taken more time to marvel at her friend's flexibility and skill. She barely noticed that both Asuma and Kisame were also watching the battle.

Anko went for a right cross, though Itachi blocked it. She quickly did a 270° spin in the other direction, lashing out with her right elbow, which was again defended against, but Kurenai was horrified to see that he'd grabbed the elbow while her back was facing him, so she couldn't spin back into position fast enough. A kunai appeared in his other hand, and the female jonin knew full well what he intended to do.

And she knew full well she was too far away to do anything.

Her relief was palpable when the snake summoner leaped and her foe had to bend slightly backward if he didn't want his chin to meet her heel in a very painful way as she did a front somersault. It also had the added benefit of distracting him enough to let her elbow go.

Twisting mid-air to face her opponent, a claw knife was summoned to her hand in a puff of smoke. It took her half a second to funnel Lightning through the metal weapon and hurl it at him just as her feet touched the river surface. Itachi bent downward, letting the projectile pass over him and was met with the sight of Anko's horizontally rotating form and her sending a butterfly kick his way.

Throwing his arms up and crossing them, he caught the leg between them. Just as he was about to counter, a large, blue snake leaped from the water's depths and coiled around his legs and torso. Caught off guard, he seemed to freeze.

Kurenai smiled in satisfaction along with her fellow kunoichi, who summoned another claw knife and coated it with lightning chakra. Using his crossed arms as leverage, she pushed herself upwards and raised her weapon with the intention of slamming it into the back of his skull. However, Anko's sensory skills felt a large build-up of chakra in her foe, and placing her other foot on his person, she pushed away from him.

"Aoda! Get away from him! Disappear!" she yelled out.

Sensing the urgency in her order, the snake was gone in a burst of smoke. Just in time, as Itachi exploded, releasing a potent shockwave that raised a massive pillar of water. Anko landed and turned when the real deal appeared next to Kisame, looking completely unruffled.

Anko barely resisted the urge to grit her teeth; all that trouble and not even a scratch on him. The kid had some moves, she'd give him that.

"Impressive as usual. Your skills have improved in these five years, Miss Anko," Itachi complimented her in his bland voice.

"Thanks. Not bad yourself," the kunoichi returned with a grim smile. "You know this is isn't going to end well for you, right? I've sent someone else to alert the ANBU Black Ops of your presence. Who knew it'd be your treacherous ass that stopped me from getting to my usual dango lunch break."

"I see. Kisame, we're done here. We're not here to start a war. We have a mission to complete and Leader will not be happy if we come back empty-handed," the Sharingan-wielder said.

"Oh, alright. I suppose I've had my share of fun. This is a lucky day for you Leaf ninja." With a chuckle, he pointed his blade at Ranka's floating body. "Well, most of you."

With that, the two rogues were gone using the Body Flicker Jutsu.

The three made their way to their fallen comrade, the water around him stained red by his blood. Anko, having been the most closely acquainted to him, had the 'privilege' of picking his body up and moving it to dry land. They stood around the body, silent, except for the sound of Asuma taking out one of his cigarettes and lighting it. Kurenai knew it was just his way of coping, however calm and controlled he gave the impression of being.

She wasn't particularly sad at Ranka's passing. She was used to death and bodies and stains of blood, and she had never been close to the man, but there had been one thing about him that interested her.

"Anko," she garnered her friend's attention. "Ranka had a huge crush on you, you know?"

The purple-haired jonin blinked, appearing to have been unaware of that tidbit. She probably did realize, though, it was merely an attempt by Kurenai to end the uncomfortable quietude. Except at funerals, ninjas normally didn't do the minute of silence thing, since they tended to die on the battlefield, where the action and noise didn't stop for anyone.

"Ah," Anko replied with a casual nod. A small smile grew on her lips, dark and morbid in its humor. "I guess it's lucky for him he croaked, then. It never would've worked out between us."

A nigh-humorless chuckle escaped the couple's lips, a reaction preferable to the other, more painful options.

* * *

Naruto seriously considered putting the water balloon on the ground and elbow-dropping it to oblivion. He and his clones had been doing the first step for _four hours_ and improvement was minimal, to say the least.

Three of the four clones he'd created were still with him. One of them had made a minor breakthrough about two hours ago, managing to switch between spinning directions at a relatively fast pace, but not in multiple directions all at once. It had dispelled and transferred the knowledge to the original and its remaining brethren, lighting a fire in their soul. Feeling like anything was possible, the other four devoted their full attention to the exercise.

Oh, how wrong they'd been.

They'd made no progress aside from increasing the speed of rotation and the direction-switch. The group had stopped at a clearing about half an hour ago, deciding to take a short break. Naruto had been too stubborn to stop, however, and continued with the exercise. Grandpa Tobirama had had him create five more clones to train them on hand signs. They were currently situated on the other side of the clearing, where Tobirama's exclamations of the sign names couldn't distract him and his copies.

He stared at the balloon as the water spun in one way, then another, and then another, and then another, and then ano-

He couldn't take it anymore! With a growl, he reared his other hand back and swiped it forward. He didn't care if it wasn't 'proper', he only wanted to see this devil's tool sent to mock him utterly destroyed. Just as the water inside began to churn wildly, a sudden influx of memories startled him, stopping his hand before it could reach the balloon.

Out of pure habit, the hand holding the object kept molding chakra.

And for a few moments, Naruto felt it. He felt his lone hand taking control and spinning the water in all directions with his chakra, slowly dying down as seconds passed.

He looked at the balloon in shock, seemingly unable to comprehend what he'd just witnessed, before he felt a wide smile grace his features. He created a clone and dispelled it immediately to transfer his discovery. His copies grinned along with him.

Soon, all four of them were applying a new method. Realizing that the main problem wasn't spinning the water in multiple ways, but _initiating_ the process itself, Naruto began using both hands at the start, and when the water churned everywhere, he'd resume only with the one holding it.

Unlike before, he would do it more slowly, so the churning process would have 'stages'. Repeating the exercise, he would slowly but steadily lower the number of these 'stages' before he could cease using one hand and continue the process to the end with the other. Twenty minutes later and all the shadow clones gone, their experience absorbed by the original, Naruto again tried to single-handedly do the motions start to finish. With a nervous gulp, he began the process.

It was slow, and for a moment he feared his success to be short-lived, but the liquid started rotating in more than one direction, even more of them joining one after another. It wasn't a minute into the exercise when the surface of the balloon looked like it had boiling lava instead of water inside.

With a final push of chakra, the rubber burst open and water spilled down his hand.

Naruto stared open-mouthed.

He did it. Rather slowly, but... he did it.

It was a sense of accomplishment unlike any other; superior to the one when the people cheered him on for winning against Neji Hyuga; superior to the one when he woke up after the invasion and found out he beat Gaara and saved Sakura.

He was one step closer to learning his dad's jutsu.

"Judging by that shit-eating grin you got, I'm guessing the first step's going well."

He turned, surprised to find Pervy Sage standing a few feet away from him. His grin morphing into a smirk of pride, he held up a rubber piece the exact same way as earlier that morning, and his master soon mirrored his expression

"You could say that."

* * *

"Inu, tora, i, saru, uma, tatsu, mi, tori, ne."

With more skill than he ever remembered having, Naruto did the mentioned hand signs.

The party had come across a town on their mission, where they'd rented a hotel room in which he was currently practicing his hand signs with Grandpa Tobirama. Pervy Sage was off with some busty chick that was weird enough to find him attractive without the promise of monetary compensation. His grandfather shared the sentiment.

After finishing, Tobirama nodded, satisfied with his skill. When the boy expected him to tell a new sequence, he instead saw him with his eyes closed, looking like he was concentrating. When he opened his eyes, the blonde bore witness to the focus and hardened eyes of a seasoned war veteran.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Naruto asked, a little scared honestly.

"Naruto, prepare yourself," he replied, turning to look at the door.

He was confused but followed the order nonetheless, putting on his sandals and his right hand into his pouch, grabbing a kunai but still keeping his hand inside it. He noticed Tobirama giving the entrance of their room a hard-edged gaze, and he steeled himself; with his great-grandfather being this serious, he could only come to the conclusion that they were about to receive some unwelcome guests.

The sound of their door being knocked on echoed through the room. The Second Hokage took slow steps towards it and grabbed the doorknob. He opened the door and stared into a pair of red eyes with three black tomoes in a circular pattern around the pupil.

"Itachi Uchiha, I presume."

Itachi didn't say anything at first. "I don't know who you are, but we need your roommate Naruto Uzumaki to come with us," he said in a monotone. The man's features were somewhat familiar, but Itachi didn't recognize this Leaf shinobi, which was strange.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed a bit. "I cannot allow that."

"I'm impressed." From behind Itachi came a large man with a huge sword wrapped in bandages. "I can't smell even a bit of fear in him. Looks like the Hidden Leaf has some well-trained ninja after all," the man commented with a chuckle.

The kage glanced at him and had to admit that the shark-like man had truly astounding reserves of chakra, bigger than his own had been during his prime, quite a feat in on itself. He also noticed their garbs, black cloacks with red clouds.

Akatsuki, just like Jiraiya said.

"I apologize, but I'm not familiar with you," Tobirama said to the large man.

He chuckled again, amused. "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki, Scourge of the Hidden Mist Village."

The title was probably well-earned, Tobirama concluded. He could feel Naruto's nervousness but ignored it for the time being. Whether Itachi was actually on their side or not, he had to pretend otherwise and he might just capture the blond anyway.

A fight was on their hands. It was unavoidable.

Itachi decided to settle this quickly and went to cast a genjutsu on the man with his Sharingan.

Tobirama, however, sensed his intention and had other plans.

* * *

 _Itachi suddenly found himself in a mostly black space with some grey lines on the walls, which moved in wave-like motions._

 _"Itachi Uchiha." He heard from behind him._

 _He quickly turned, and his eyes widened in a rare display of emotion. Before him was the same man from before, but with blue armor and a black suit instead of a Hidden Leaf uniform, white hair instead of black, a happuri-style headband, and three red marks on his face, one which he would recognize anywhere._

 _In front of him stood the Second Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves._

 _"We need to talk."  
_

* * *

 **Here you go, guys! Monster chapter! 16k effin' words! This had been by far the hardest chapter for me to write... ever.**

 **The most important element of this chapter had been Naruto's characterization. I wanted to portray him true to canon, and yet different. I gave him the rather simplistic worldview the manga and most writes give him, but also a depth and intelligence that I believe has always been there, brought out bit by bit with Tobirama's presence and the recent revelations. Another important element, tied to this one, is how Naruto starts to realize that the world isn't as black and white as he always thought it was. He's slowly beginning to have some doubts about... well, everything. He's asking questions, both aloud and internally, which I believe is very important for personal growth.**

 **I'd really like your opinion on my portrayal of him, so reviews would be nice.**

 **Anko was also important here. I showed off both a bit of her mindset and opinions, as well as her fighting skills. I'd initially opted not to write the Vs Kisame and Itachi part, but I felt there was potential there, so I went ahead and made Anko Mitarashi look badass.**

 **There was also some exposition done regarding the Hidden Leaf's early years. I hope most of you don't find it too tedious.**

 **Now the best part, story recommendations. However, this time, none of the fics are Naruto fics or even Naruto crossover fics. This is a list of non-Naruto stories I believe deserve more credit than they have. I imagine many of my readers don't read Naruto fics alone, so I'm sure some of you might find something to your liking:**

 **Before the Dawn (Game of Thrones)** by **Will 0'the Wisp**

 **Pillars (My Hero Academia)** by **Naowt**

 **Mother Titan: Reborn (Shingeki no Kyojin)** by **Brightsteel1** (Though I'm credited in the writing from the second chapter onwards, at least 95% of it is proofreading; plot, narrative, and direction are all to the author's credit)

 **Serpentine (Harry Potter)** by **darkfire1220**

 **The Mortal Earth (Pokemon)** by **Mateusz**

 **Dimmadreki (How To Train Your Dragon)** by **Cke1st**

 **I also decided to add a little extra and included a list of Naruto fics that have great, proper grammar. Now, I'm not criticizing anyone, but when you write literature, electronic or not, grammar is an extremely important element. I myself had subpar grammar when I first started, but look where I am now. Here is a list of very popular Naruto stories whose grammar is either perfect or near-enough:**

 **Team 8** by **S'TarKan (Top Naruto story on Fanfiction according to favorites and follows)**

 **The Lives Worth Saving** by **cywsaphyre (5th best Naruto story according to favorites)**

 **Sanitize** by **Sage Thrasher (Has 4,6k favorites and 5,2k follows with only seven chapters and less than a year and a half on the site)**

 **Hoshigaki** by **writer168 (A favorite of mine, fairly popular, 1,2k favorites, and also less than a year and a half on the site)**

 **If there are any readers of mine who want to start writing Naruto stories or any other type of fanfic, or if there are any writers reading THAHW, these stories are the ones you need to go to. Pay attention to details, don't just skim through it, and you'll realize good grammar is not as hard as it first seems. Good luck.**


	6. Beta Search!

Yeah, sorry, but this isn't a new chapter. Fear not, though, because I'm not cancelling the story. Problem is, I've been stuck on a certain part of the next chapter, and the frustration has incited a bit of a writer's block and an overall lack of inspiration at the moment.

Thankfully, I've got a rough outline of how several of the next chapters will go. However, the progression of the plot for the foreseeable future is primarily based on exposition and dialogue, and while I believe I'm at least fair at it, linguistic skills aren't my forte.

Therefore, I've decided to search for a beta, and I hope there's someone willing among my dear readers. The only qualifications I have are that the beta must, in their humble (or not so humble, either or) opinion, have superior skill in writing dialogue and narrative. Good grammar skills are implied. Furthermore, the beta would have to be informed of and accept the general route and tone the story will take, as I'd rather avoid any disagreements or misunderstandings in that department down the line.

And that's pretty much it. Sorry for any of you who were hyped up when the update appeared on your fav/follows list. I'll try to do better in the future.


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